The Dreamers, based on the novel by Gilbert Adair, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, with Eva Green, Michael Pitt, 8 out of 10

The Dreamers, based on the novel by Gilbert Adair, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, with Eva Green, Michael Pitt

8 out of 10

This note is intended to use the lens of the Science of Happiness to look at the Dreamers with “good intentions”…

-          Through a Glass Brightly!

This is a very erotic, exciting story of three young people, their love and sexual explorations that reach new limits

Viewers and critics are likely to be divided on the manner, the style of rendering this narrative to the big screen

The frequent references to major, classic films could be seen as proof that this film is sophisticated

It could also puzzle and send off subject some who could perceive this as a self-indulging effort…

The director had been under attack for the making of Tango in Paris that has involved violence and physical abuse

According to the actress in the leading role, the memorable Tango was very hard on her and Bertolucci seemed to act, if not like Weinstein, in the sense of trying to get intimate, the director was still abusive

The protagonists of The Dreamers are – the American in Paris Matthew, the resplendent French girl Isabelle and her Siamese twin brother Theo, the latter inviting the American to stay with him and his sister.

They all involve in games

A classic of Psychology is called:

-          Games People Play and it was written by a formidable thinker- Eric Berne

The Games of the trio involve films and acting scenes from masterpieces, inviting the others to guess…

Where does this scene come from…?

There are penalties for not guessing the correct chef d’oeuvre

And this is where it gets physical and for some in the audience it can even be challenging, or hard to take

In the first instance, Theo is unable to identify the work of art that is played by his sister and he gets punished:

-          He has to masturbate, then and there, in front of the sibling and the intrigued American, who would confront the hosts on the subject

 At different points, Matthew sees the brother and sister sleeping naked, in the same bed! And he sees that their relationship is way beyond the natural, family closeness and it has long become a serious, perhaps clinical matter…

-          Have you ever gone on a date? Without Theo? Don’t look at him!

-          You know I haven’t! Why do you ask me this?

 After this dialogue between Matthew and Isabelle, he asks her on a date, which is going well, until they come back and they find the brother with another girl, listening to a tune that drives Isa mad!

Apparently, at least this is what I think, that song used to mean something special for these incestuous siblings

So Isabelle, who was in the process of making love with Matthew, the latter busy between her legs, performing oral sex, starts shouting:

-          Theo! Theo! Theo! …while banging at the door

This is definitely in the realm of outré…this is not just a ménage a trois, but a complicated, provoking story

Be a merit finder, not a fault finder! This is one of the mantras proffered by Harvard Professor Tal Ben-Shahar

And indeed, even the very special parents, accept in an astonishing manner the situation that most would find outrageous…

When they come home from the countryside, they not only stumble upon filth, incredible waste, bottle of expensive wine and a house that looks like it had been through a tsunami, but they also contemplate:

-          Their naked daughter, sleeping between the brother and the American guest, all in the same titillating posture and garb

 And there are other, perhaps even more challenging images, like when Isabelle loses her virginity, and the blood is wiped all over her face and that of Matthew, while they kiss with passion…

At another time, the three lovers- albeit the relationship between the young men appears to remain platonic- are all taking a bath, at the same time and in the…same tub, finding themselves in water that has…menstrual blood…

-          Hey, it is only happening once a month! Says one of them…