Most of the reviews that I have read regarding "The Dreamers" make comparisons between it and Bertolucci's masterpiece from 1972, Last Tango in Paris which starred Marlon Brando.  There are indeed several similarities between the two, notwithstanding the nudity and sex that permeates much of the second half of "The Dreamers".  Both stories take place mostly in a large apartment in Paris involving characters who have troubling secrets and participate in sudden sexual games with strangers.  However, whereas Last Tango in Paris was a mesmerizing psychological tragedy involving loss and grief, this film doesn't have the similar powerful impact and emotion that the former did.

      An American named Matthew arrives in Paris during the late 1960's to study French at the university. Matthew is an avid film buff and spends as much time as possible at the French cinema.  He meets up with twins Isabelle and Theo who also seem to spend most of their time at the movies as well.  Soon, the twins invite Matthew over for dinner at their house with them and their parents.  It turns out that the parents are leaving the next day for a month-long trip and after they go, Isabelle and Theo invite Matt to stay with them instead of the hotel that he is currently living in.

      Matthew finds out quickly that the twins like to play movie quiz games with the loser having to submit to a forfeit dare by the other one.  Of course, these games just happen to involve sexual acts.  Theo is forced to masturbate by Isabella in front of a picture of Garbo and when Isabelle and Matthew are deemed losers by Theo, he commands them to have sex in front of him.  Matthew is at first scared and reluctant to do this but succumbs to the pressure by the other two and before we know it, he has fallen in love with Isabelle.  As these sexual games continue, the stakes get higher and higher as just outside their window, a cultural revolution is taking place with big fights between the people and the police.

      There are many pleasures to get from this film.  For film buffs, there are many references to scenes from other movies and some of these are acted out by Isabella who wants Matthew to guess what film she is acting out the scene from. And Bertollucci does a neat thing here as well.  He splices into the film in black and white footage, many of the movie scenes that the characters are talking about or acting out.  There is no doubt that this film can be characterized as beautiful to watch.

      So, what is missing from this film?  I thought the story started out to be very interesting and when the sexual games started to be played, I wanted to know where it was going to take these three people.  But by the end of the film, it just didn't have the impact or emotion tied to it that I was expecting.  Without this more powerful aspect to the story, the sexual and mind games being played seem to be trivialized to a certain point.  Whereas in Last Tango in Paris, the audience could feel the pain and anguish that the Brando character was going through, there was no similar experience with "The Dreamers". Although I believe I may have picked up on some subtle hints that possibly some darker things had happened to Isabella, but I may be stretching there.

      So in conclusion, even though I liked this film enough to easily recommend it, I still found it to be somewhat disappointing at the same time.  Maybe I was looking for an equally powerful movie like Last Tango and just didn't find it.  Many viewers will no doubt be appalled by the nudity in this film, but just like in Last Tango, the nudity and sex is natural and an important part to the story, and not gratuitous by any means.  Society seems to cringe at nudity and sensuality but totally embrace excessive violence that is shown in films.  And maybe Bertolucci is making a statement about this with artistic films like this.