The first thing you see in the new movie Dreams, from the Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco, is a freight truck parked in the middle of nowhere. Inside the truck are several migrants, who are making the perilous journey from Mexico to the U.S.
Franco is vague on specifics; he observes and implies more than he explains. One of the migrants is a young man named Fernando, played by Isaac Hernández, and he quickly separates himself from the others and makes his way toward San Francisco. There’s determination as well as exhaustion in Fernando’s stride, almost as if he knows exactly where he’s going.
He does. Fernando heads to a swanky apartment, the home of a philanthropist named Jennifer McCarthy, played by Jessica Chastain. Jennifer is surprised to see him, but they’re clearly not strangers: They immediately fall into bed, in the first of the movie’s many explicit sex scenes.
The backstory comes together gradually. Fernando studied at a Mexico City dance academy that receives funding from Jennifer’s arts foundation. Their torrid affair began some time ago, during one of Jennifer’s many trips to Mexico. Now Fernando has entered the U.S. illegally to be with her, and he’s determined to stay, and perhaps even launch his dance career.
Dreams first screened at the Berlin International Film Festival last February, less than a month into the second Trump presidency. Although there are references to ICE and the looming threat that Fernando could be arrested and deported, immigration provides the context rather than the subject of the movie. What interests Franco the most is the ever-shifting balance of power between Fernando, an undocumented immigrant trying to make ends meet as a bartender, and Jennifer, a privileged older white woman who travels by private jet.
It’s a dynamic as complicated as it is toxic. Fernando needs Jennifer’s support, but only up to a point; he’s a talented enough dancer to make inroads with a prestigious San Francisco ballet company. Jennifer’s desire for Fernando verges on an obsession, but one that she indulges only on her terms. Things were so much more convenient for her when she could see Fernando down in Mexico, away from the prying eyes and sharp judgments of her family members and colleagues.
Chastain also starred in Franco’s previous film, Memory, playing a sexual-abuse survivor drawn into a relationship with a man with early-onset dementia, played by Peter Sarsgaard. The setup was tortured, but the actors were good enough to make you believe it.
In a way, Dreams plays like a cruel B-side to Memory‘s more optimistic romance, and Chastain, so sympathetic in the earlier film, here swaps virtue for outright villainy. She’s long been one of our most fearless actors, and she gives herself over, chillingly, to the role of Jennifer, a monstrous manipulator and exploiter of someone she claims to love.
Franco’s films, including the class-uprising thriller New Order, do not exactly overflow with the milk of human kindness. He’s often struck his critics, myself included, as something of a junior-league Michael Haneke, hurling contempt at his characters, especially the rich ones, from a cold, clinical distance.
With Dreams, an ironic title if ever there was one, he’s in predictably cynical terrain. Here, he targets the racism and hypocrisy of liberal do-gooders like Jennifer, and his point is as inarguable as his methods are obvious. This is the kind of movie where Jennifer’s smarmy brother, well played by Rupert Friend, will make crass comments about Mexicans, utterly oblivious to the Latina cleaner quietly tidying up the office around him.
After a season of high-minded movies about the redemptive power of art, there’s something bracing about Franco’s ruthlessly unsentimental view of the ecosystem in which artists and their benefactors operate.
I rolled my eyes at that scene, recoiling, not for the first time, from Franco’s posture of smug superiority. But not all of Dreams is so easy to shake off. After a season of high-minded movies about the redemptive power of art, there’s something bracing about Franco’s ruthlessly unsentimental view of the ecosystem in which artists and their benefactors operate.
Not even Fernando’s extraordinary talent is ultimately enough to make his dreams come true. Hernández is a principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre, and the film’s most pleasurable scenes are those in which we see Fernando dancing — fleeting moments of beauty in a film with a relentlessly ugly vision of the world.
Transcript:
DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. In the psychological drama “Dreams,” Jessica Chastain plays a San Francisco philanthropist whose foundation supports a dance academy in Mexico City. The movie, which also stars the Mexican actor and ballet dancer Isaac Hernández, is the latest from the writer and director Michel Franco, who previously worked with Chastain in the 2024 film “Memory.” “Dreams” opens in select theaters this week. And our film critic, Justin Chang, has this review.
JUSTIN CHANG, BYLINE: The first thing you see in the new movie “Dreams,” from the Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco, is a freight truck parked in the middle of nowhere. Inside the truck are several migrants, who are making the perilous journey from Mexico to the U.S. Franco is vague on specifics. He observes and implies more than he explains. One of the migrants is a young man named Fernando, played by Isaac Hernández. And he quickly separates himself from the others and makes his way towards San Francisco. There’s determination as well as exhaustion in Fernando’s stride, almost as if he knows exactly where he’s going. He does.
Fernando heads to a swanky apartment, the home of a philanthropist named Jennifer McCarthy, played by Jessica Chastain. Jennifer is surprised to see him but they’re clearly not strangers. They immediately fall into bed in the first of the movie’s many explicit sex scenes. The backstory comes together gradually. Fernando studied at a Mexico City dance academy that receives funding from Jennifer’s arts foundation. Their torrid affair began some time ago during one of Jennifer’s many trips to Mexico. Now Fernando has entered the U.S. illegally to be with her. And he’s determined to stay and perhaps even launch his dance career.
“Dreams” first screened at the Berlin International Film Festival last February, less than a month into the second Trump presidency. Although there are references to ICE and the looming threat that Fernando could be arrested and deported, immigration provides the context rather than the subject of the movie. What interests Franco the most is the ever-shifting balance of power between Fernando, an undocumented immigrant trying to make ends meet as a bartender, and Jennifer, a privileged older white woman who travels by private jet. It’s a dynamic as complicated as it is toxic.
Fernando needs Jennifer’s support but only up to a point. He’s a talented enough dancer to make inroads with a prestigious San Francisco ballet company. Jennifer’s desire for Fernando verges on an obsession, but one that she indulges only on her terms. Things were so much more convenient for her when she could see Fernando down in Mexico, away from the prying eyes and sharp judgments of her family members and colleagues. In this scene, the two are at a restaurant, where Fernando strikes up a conversation in Spanish with their waiter.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, “DREAMS”)
ISAAC HERNÁNDEZ: (As Fernando Rodríguez, speaking Spanish)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character, speaking Spanish)
HERNÁNDEZ: (As Fernando Rodríguez, speaking Spanish)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character, speaking Spanish)
JESSICA CHASTAIN: (As Jennifer McCarthy) I’m going to start with the goat cheese salad.
HERNÁNDEZ: (As Fernando Rodríguez) He’s actually asking if you want something to drink.
CHASTAIN: (As Jennifer McCarthy) Oh, sorry. No, I’m fine. Didn’t mean to interrupt your conversation.
HERNÁNDEZ: (As Fernando Rodríguez, speaking Spanish)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character, speaking Spanish)
CHASTAIN: (As Jennifer McCarthy) Forget I’m here?
HERNÁNDEZ: (As Fernando Rodríguez) Why?
CHASTAIN: (As Jennifer McCarthy) Well, you can speak English.
HERNÁNDEZ: (As Fernando Rodríguez) I think you should know a little Spanish by now – no? – after all the time spent in Mexico having a Mexican boyfriend. I’m from Quito, senorita.
CHASTAIN: (As Jennifer McCarthy) Sorry.
HERNÁNDEZ: (As Fernando Rodríguez) Por favor.
CHASTAIN: (As Jennifer McCarthy, laughter)
CHANG: Chastain also starred in Franco’s previous film, “Memory,” playing a sexual abuse survivor drawn into a relationship with a man with early onset dementia, played by Peter Sarsgaard. The setup was tortured, but the actors were good enough to make you believe it. In a way, “Dreams” plays like a cruel B-side to “Memory’s” more optimistic romance. And Chastain, so sympathetic in the earlier film, here swaps virtue for outright villainy.
She’s long been one of our most fearless actors. And she gives herself over chillingly to the role of Jennifer, a monstrous manipulator and exploiter of someone she claims to love. Franco’s films, including the class uprising thriller “New Order,” do not exactly overflow with the milk of human kindness. He’s often struck his critics, myself included, as something of a Junior League Michael Haneke, hurling contempt at his characters, especially the rich ones, from a cold, clinical distance.
With “Dreams,” an ironic title if ever there was one, he’s on predictably cynical terrain. Here he targets the racism and hypocrisy of liberal do-gooders like Jennifer, and his point is as inarguable as his methods are obvious. This is the kind of movie where Jennifer’s smarmy brother, well-played by Rupert Friend, will make crass comments about Mexicans, utterly oblivious to the Latina cleaner quietly tidying up the office around him. I rolled my eyes at that scene, recoiling, not for the first time, from Franco’s posture of smug superiority.
But not all of “Dreams” is so easy to shake off. After a season of high-minded movies about the redemptive power of art, there’s something bracing about Franco’s ruthlessly unsentimental view of the ecosystem in which artists and their benefactors operate. Not even Fernando’s extraordinary talent is ultimately enough to make his dreams come true. Isaac Hernández is a principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre. And the film’s most pleasurable scenes are those in which we see Fernando dancing, fleeting moments of beauty in a film with a relentlessly ugly vision of the world.
BIANCULLI: Justin Chang is a film critic for The New Yorker. He reviewed the new film “Dreams.” On Monday’s show, Jessie Buckley, the star of “Hamnet,” for which she’s nominated for an Oscar and has already won a Golden Globe. She launched her career on a British TV singing competition with judges Andrew Lloyd Webber and director Cameron MackIntosh. We’ll hear what that sounded like. Hope you can join us.
(SOUNDBITE OF ANNE SAJDERA’S “BOUNCE”)
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FRESH AIR’s executive producer is Sam Briger. Our senior producer today is Roberta Shorrock. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham, with additional engineering support by Joyce Lieberman and Julian Herzfeld. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Ann Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Therese Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Nyakundi, Anna Bauman and Nico Gonzalez-Wisler. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. For Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley, I’m David Bianculli.
(SOUNDBITE OF ANNE SAJDERA’S “BOUNCE”)
