Michel Franco, after his 2023 drama Memory reprises his collaboration with Jessica Chastain in Dreams. The international co-production between United States and Mexico, had its world premiere in the Main Competition of the 75 th Berlin International Film Festival, competing for the Golden Bear.
The film shows how Fernando (Isaac Hernández), a young ballet dancer from Mexico, nurtures his dreams of finding better opportunities in the United States. He manages to cross the border and reach San Francisco to meet his loved one, Jennifer (Jessica Chastain). She belongs to the American elite, working for the family foundation with her father (Marshall Bell), and brother Jake (Rupert Friend). The socialite and philanthropist, who is decades older than the young dancer, is intensely infatuated with the promising artist, but is extremely lucid in knowing their worlds will never meet. Thus, she does everything in her power to protect their future together, but in a way that does not compromise the cocoon she belongs to.
Dreams could have potentially been a contemporary version of The Prince and The Showgirl — the 1957 film starring Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier — with reversed roles, where the wealthy one is played by Chastain, whilst Hernández is the performer hoping for a better future. Instead, Michel Franco’s picture becomes a parable of the times we are living in, when the current US administration has began implementing a hard-line anti-Mexican immigration policy, with its 47th President expressing his intention to rename the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of America.
Through his films, Michel Franco has helped bring international attention to Mexican cinema. The Venice Film Festival is where he presented Memory, Sundown and New Order, with the latter winning the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize. The Cannes Film Festival was where April’s Daughter won the Special Jury Prize in 2017, while After Lucia won the Prix Un Certain Regard in 2012. Now, with Berlinale the Mexican director seems to present a film that is intensely timely and current. But not just for the way it tackles immigration and ethnic discrimination.
The motion picture seems to tick all the boxes that are part of the public debate. For instance, the film follows the trend of women dating much younger men, which we’ve recently seen in movies such as The Idea of You (starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine), Lonely Planet (starring Laura Dern and Liam Hemsworth), A Family Affair (starring Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron), and of course Babygirl (starring Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson).
Dreams further portrays how white supremacy can take forms that may be perceived as a modern version of colonialism. The fascinating aspect of the film is how it exposes the double standard of captivity. When Jennifer decides Fernando’s every move it seems socially acceptable, whereas when the situation switches the reaction is completely different.
The cast brilliantly brings to life not only the characters, but also the archetypes they represent. Jessica Chastain and Isaac Hernández have excellent onscreen chemistry which is effective in showing how Jennifer and Fernando, who are worlds apart, are united by raw desire. However, their animal magnetism does not suffice for them to survive as a couple. Marshall Bell, is very well balanced in playing the patriarchal W.A.S.P., as much as Rupert Friend is effective in representing the protective sibling. Both characters share extremely conservative ideas, and the actors are very credible in their performance, that could have easily become a caricature of “The Establishment.”
All the issues that are relevant at the moment are condensed in Michel Franco’s Dreams, which may raise the question as to whether this sociological analysis is way too Carthesian in its design. Even if that were the case, it’s probably what is needed in a world that is turning its back on inclusivity.
Final Grade: B