Set amidst the Paris student rebellions of 1968, young American cinemaphile Matthew (Pitt) meets Theo (Garrell) and Isabelle (Green) and they form a strange bond that intersects both sexual desire and an incestuous relationship. With the very photogenic rebellion as a backdrop, and music by Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, Bertolucci casts a cinematic spell with his latest, virtually plotless film. The Dreamers is driven almost entirely by the nudity of its three young, hot-bodied stars and the deep Parisian atmosphere.

This is a film chock full of incredibly cinematic references including Bertolucci's own Last Tango in Paris and the opening scene of Jean Seberg in Breathless. When the government shuts down the Cinématheque, the three film nuts stay put in the grandly elegant, decaying apartment and play pornographic games. Switching back and forth between archival B&W shots and the color-drenched film, Bertolucci gets you to forget everything except what's on the screen.

Scott Cranin