Michel Franco has always been a controversial writer/director. The kind of filmmaker who invites conflict while insisting on tackling complex themes of sex, class, and social systems. Franco has always presented his works with a sort of distant approach, and Dreams is no different. A cold, distant, almost indecipherable drama that wants to be all things but gets lost inside of itself. I’m resolved in saying that Franco’s work just isn’t for me, coming away from his 2023 feature Memory with the same kind of off-putting confusion. So while there’s probably a better way to interpret Franco’s ultimate message, Dreams makes some choices in the third act that undo any good will built in the first half and lends itself to be weaponized by the worst kind of people.

It’s unfortunate, because I think the right message, however difficult to parse out is saying something really important about class and the physical, emotional abuse and gaslighting the wealthy serve to everyone else that isn’t them. Even with the best intentions on the surface, Dreams makes it clear – at least to start – that the rich are repulsive people who wield their power around without care or concern for anyone around them. Franco’s signature style lends itself to make these critiques quite subtle, separating it from more direct approaches like Triangle of Sadness or more recently Send Help. It’s in little ways that our real protagonist Miguel (Isaac Hernández) is always on the outside looking in no matter how much he is seemingly welcomed into the lives of the rich and powerful.

Written and directed by Michel Franco, Dreams reunites him with Jessica Chastain as Jennifer, a socialite whose extremely wealthy family prides themselves in their philanthropic endeavors. Her projects are in the theater, particularly ballet, where she meets and starts a secret affair with undocumented immigrant Miguel, and excellent dancer who strives to perform in a prestigious company in San Francisco. But as Miguel gets closer to realizing his dreams – no pun intended – it becomes clear that no one, not even the people who claim to love him, actually want him around and are only using him for their own needs and self-congratulatory image. Dreams also stars Rupert Friend and Marshall Bell.

Subtly is its Strength

Subtly works best here even though it requires an immense amount of patience to uncover its true intentions. The little things like Jennifer spending a ton of time in Mexico and with her secret Mexican lover but hasn’t even bothered to learn Spanish, a fellow dancer degrading him about begging for money and not being from here despite Miguel being the lead dancer in the new production, and the general way he is dismissed and treated as background noise until someone more powerful needs something from him.

In true Franco style, Dreams is fractured in its storytelling as it abandons a sense of linear time and constant hard cuts mid scene or lets scenes drag on too long. It eventually comes together, but it demands your full attention to put it together and I’m not sure that the film is compelling enough to warrant such a big ask of its audience. Chastain is one of my favorite performers of our time, and while she is baring it all here – literally – I don’t think I like this Franco pairing. Hernández is decent as a young, naive immigrant just trying to make it and believing he’s almost at the top of the mountain. While Dreams isn’t quite affecting enough or framed in an engaging way, the little things are at least interesting if they can be found.

Mixed Messaging Muddles the Waters

It’s the third act that unravels it all, and leaves the film with a right and wrong interpretation that is sure to create the worst kind of discourse. I won’t spoil it, but Dreams makes the choices quite obvious and obfuscates its ultimate conclusion. The right interpretation is that Jennifer is the most odious person there is, the kind that feigns love of humanity but is actually a shell of a human being herself. The wrong one is a bit thornier, and opens the door for takeaways that feel incredibly tone deaf to the world outside.

I don’t think that was Franco’s intention, but he did make the choices in Dreams so the fault has to lie with him. And for someone who clearly feels passionate about the rich and immigrants and immigration policy, it feels extremely out of pocket to leave room for the loudest and most obnoxious voices to essentially use your own work against you.

All in all, Dreams didn’t really work for me and I think that’s most likely due to the broader context of my own issues with Franco’s work. I don’t mind patient cinema, even cold and calculating ones, but this one left me feeling icky for all of the wrong reasons. We don’t need to spell everything out for audiences and I am in no way a believer in second screen writing, but something that strives to be important should simply be more clear in what and who it’s taking on. Dreams may have some good intentions, but the road to hell is paved with them and I think it takes a wrong turn on the highway.

I think Chastain and Franco should see other people.

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