Left alone in Paris whilst their parents are on holiday, Isabelle (Eva Green) and her brother Theo (Louis Garrel) invite Matthew (Michael Pitt), a young American student, to stay at their apartment. Here they make their own rules as they experiment with their emotions and sexuality while playing a series of increasingly demanding mind games. Set against the turbulent political backdrop of France in the spring of 1968 when the voice of youth was reverberating around Europe, The dreamers is a story of self-discovery as the three students test each other to see just how far they will go. Helmed by Academy Award-winning director Bernardo Bertolucci.
Special Agent Matti
Clichés: inhibited young Yank goes to Europe and gets uninhibited with exotic Europeans.
Interesting events: sex, student riots, cinephiles, red wine, decrepit yet glorious French architecture, black and white movies, penises, labia, pubic hair, nipples, cigarettes, black, molotov cocktails.
Length: too much length. Not enough shortness.
Sexual tension: lots and lots and lots. Not just from them being teenagers but from wondering if those wacky Frenchies are going to trick the dumb Yank into a ménage à trois.
Euro-decadence: more cigarettes, red wine and black and white films than you can shake a baguette at.
Euro-culture: as far as I'm aware, only the French could have riots because someone was fired from their job as curator of an art-house cinema.
American exoticism: you won't believe what Michael Pitt does with a banana.
R 18+ (High level sex scenes, adult themes)
115 minutes (1:55 hours)
Film: 29 April 2004
