The Dreamers

The Dreamers is a sort of film tribute by director Bernarndo Bertolucci. In this film he has paid tribute in various forms of references and appraisals to the films, directors, events and personalities he hails as being the best of all time. Not only has he restricted his dedications to the world of cinema, he has also found ways to praise the great musical geniuses of the past as well. Albeit he has his own coy methods of doing it, he has generated an interesting film which has also done his devotional bidding.
The film centers around the narration of Matthew, an American student studying in the university in Paris on the eve of the student riots in Paris in the year 1968. Matthew who is a cinephile and enjoys visiting the screenings at the Cinémathèque Française happens to cross paths with a pair of siblings who are also frequenters of the film screenings. The brother and sister, who are quite interested in Matthew, invite him to their house for dinner and introduce him to their parents. Mildly shocked and surprised by their openness and comfort levels, Matthew accepts the invitation for dinner and also the invitation to move into their house once their parents move away for a month. Matthew, a bright and curious young man, enjoys arguing back and forth with the brother and hides his affection for the sister as the story unfolds in the backdrop of the May 1968 riots of Paris.
While it seems that Bertolucci has taken the opportunity to enlist his favorites among accredited films, scenes and directors and pay his tribute to the greats of the past, it seems that there are very important undertones that he has touched upon in the course of the film. The struggle that the son has with his father based on who is the greater artist, the one that voices his opinion and fights or the one that witnesses calmly as the world goes by to reflect and ponder, the connotation of incest and whether it is a sin or a parallel way of thinking and acceptance, the political struggle between the administrators and the workers and how the elite class stay aloft from it are all important points Bertolucci highlights in the course of the film. Another nuance that Bertolucci mildly highlights is the true meaning of art. Is it more artistic to create and produce for the world and society to witness or is sitting within a studio apartment discussing and contemplating a greater art in itself?
All in all putting forward interesting points to ponder, Bertolucci's The Dreamers is akin to anyone who enjoys a wide array from politics and sociology to art and realism.