In the spring of 1968, three planets -- Sex, Politics and the Cinema -- came into alignment and exerted a gravitational pull on the status quo. In Paris, what began as a protest over the ouster of Henri Langlois, the legendary founder of the Cinematheque Francais, grew into a popular revolt that threatened to topple the government. There were barricades in the streets, firebombs, clashes with the police, a crisis of confidence. In a way that seems inexplicable today, the director Jean-Luc Godard and his films were at the center of the maelstrom. Other New Wave directors and the cinema in general seemed to act as the agitprop arm of the revolution.

It's 1968. Matthew (Michael Pitt) is an American student in Paris to study French. He ends up spending his free time watching French cinema. He meets twins Théo (Louis Garrel) and Isabelle (Eva Green) at the Cinémathèque Française protesting the firing of Henri Langlois by the government. Matthew stays with them while their parents are away. They spend all their time together and then the student riots begin.This was the first thing I saw from Eva Green and she is completely magnetic. She owns the screen. She even exceeded the veteran at the time Michael Pitt. It's a big debut. The mixing with the old film clips would have been great except I recognize only a few of them. This meanders too much for me. It's lazy hazy summer of love.

Set against the backdrop of the 1968 student riots in Paris, The Dreamers is a film of political and sexual awakening during a time when a spirit of revolution was in the air. Matthew is an American exchange student who meets two siblings, Theo and Isabelle, shortly after arriving in Paris. The trio bonds over a shared love for cinema, and the film is laced with numerous references to film classics and the French New Wave, making it in some ways a film about film. But it's also a film about revolution and breaking established social boundaries. Living in a large house while the sibling's parents are away, the three central characters engage in ideological struggle that reflects the social turmoil going on outside. Theo is a Maoist who supports the student's radical demonstrations while Matthew believes their efforts are futile. Simultaneously Matthew and Isabelle develop a sexual relationship that Theo must come to terms with. In the end, the varying ideologies of the characters come to a head and they are each forced to make a choice about the direction of their lives. The film is passionate and alive with a revolutionary spirit, and at the decisive moment, it upholds a radical approach. Michael Pitt, Eva Green, and Louis Garrel each turn in exceptional and brave performances in this film that is directed with subtly and nuance by Bernardo Bertolucci.

Against a backdrop of the 1968 student riots in Paris Matthew, a young American student obsessed with movies, hooks up with a brother and sister,Theo and Isabelle, the twin offspring of a celebrated poet, who share his passion. The friendship rapidly becomes deep and disturbing; the twins seemingly enjoying an incestuous relationship and Theo a bi-sexual disposition towards their new friend. But all is not quite as it appears. These seemingly sophisticated intellectuals live in a bizarre enclosed little world of their own, indulged by wealthy parents and more child-like than the American first assumes. In a film that is bursting with movie in-jokes and references,the trio join in protests at the Cinemateque, replicate the 'Louvre record' from BANDE A PARTE in a scene inter-cut with shots from the original movie and develop a parlour game of "Name the film or pay the forfeit" ,that soon stretches the bounds of taste and decency, once the parents have left for the country.The trio spend most of their time in the large rambling apartment, which begins as charmingly shabby-chic and descends into student-squat squalor, indulging in ever more lurid sexually charged games. Nudity increases as they become insular and the world outside becomes more distant in a way that evokes a cult film of this era,PERFORMANCE. But THE DREAMERS, being a 21st century film,goes further and among several intimate and unsettling scenes that many might find offensive, the trio take a candle-lit bath in a haze of 'exotic cigarette' smoke which lulls them into unconsciousness, to find on awakening that Isabelle has started her menstruation while they have been asleep...and the bathwater has turned red.If the subject matter is an acquired taste then without doubt the film looks wonderful. Paris in 1968 is lovingly recreated; the cars and backgrounds are right, the music includes Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Bob Dylan, there is much talk of Mao and revolution. The acting is very good, naturalistic and engaging. The leading trio all fit their rolls to perfection and Eva Green as the pretty, pouting, full-busted,long haired Isabelle is the perfect image (cliche?)of a freethinking 1960s femme fatale. THE DREAMERS is a significant movie for me. Watching it for the first time I became intrigued by the homage it paid to Jean-Luc Godard's BANDE A PART, a film of which I previously knew nothing. I sought out the DVD, was entranced by this great movie(and Anna Karina in particular!)and have been hooked on French New Wave movies ever since. Re-watching it two years later I 'get' more of the filmic references, the haunting use of the theme from PIERROT LE FOU and the cameo of Jean-Pierre Leaud among others, but most of all I am struck by how intimate and graphic the relationships are portrayed. Not an easy film to like at times and not a film for all tastes but a brilliant one nonetheless.