The Dreamers

The last five minutes of Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers deliver a sublimely spot-on graduation for its main character, an unripe American student on a proverbial journey of self-discovery in this erotic drama set against the backdrop of the 1968 Paris riots. But in the preceding 100-plus minutes there isn't much compelling in this story of a trio of 20-year-old bohemian wannabe-intellectuals who have yet to become comfortable with their own identities, yet frequently launch into polemic and nebulously philosophical pontifications about politics and movies. The narrating young drifter (pouty Michael Pitt from Hedwig and the Angry Inch) answers the siren song of a pair of alluringly charismatic, possibly incestuous fraternal twins (Eva Green and Louis Garrel) whose outwardly uninhibited aimlessness (read: arrested development) is more exotic to him than his own--by virtue of the fact that they are French and smoke lots of cigarettes. Much sex (and male nudity, generating the NC-17 rating) and many circular debates ensue, but the film's casually edgy eroticism and constant allusions to old movies are in many ways a mask for the fact that these characters aren't especially interesting, except to each other. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: Available in both “R”-rated and “NC-17” rated versions, DVD extras for both include audio commentary (by director Bernardo Bertolucci, writer Gilbert Adair, and producer Jeremy Thomas), the production featurettes “Bertolucci Makes The Dreamers” and “Outside the Window: Events in France, May 1968,” a music video rendition of “Hey Joe” by costar Michael Pitt and the Twins of Evil, and trailers. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a so-so film.] (R. Blackwelder)