The Dreamers

[MacGuffin]

Trailer here.

Directed by: Bernardo Bertolucci

Written by: Gilbert Adair

Produced by: Jeremy Thomas

Cast: Michael Pitt, Eva Green, Louis Garrel

Premise: An American college student, Matthew (Pitt), pursuing his education abroad in Paris in 1968 becomes friends with a French brother, Guillaume (Garrel), and sister, Danielle (Green), through a shared love of the cinema, while the May, 1968 Paris student riots (which eventually shut down most of the French government) are happening in the background.

[Kal]

I dont know about the movie but the chick is very hot

[cowboykurtis]

i love french women.

[SoNowThen]

so did this get raped/cut to hell by the ratings board or what?

or will we get to see the master's latest work proper?

[ono]

The former.  You'll probably have to wait for the DVD to see the version Bertolucci intended.  Thank you, Fox Searchlight.

[SoNowThen]

awesome

Larry Clark makes quasi-porn with ugly young people, and it manages to squeek by with an R.

One of the living legends of cinema uses attractive people -- oh, and they have to cut it.

fuck

wait for the dvd I shall

* oh... someone tell me if I'm wrong about Clark (maybe he got NC17's??). I'm just going by what I remember*

[ono]

Kids was NC-17.  Bully snuck by with an R, but has an Unrated version.  Ken Park sure as hell will be NC-17 from what I've heard of it.  But yeah, I totally agree; the MPAA has their priorities all out of whack, especially after seeing the "orgy" caps from Eyes Wide Shut.

[SoNowThen]

oh, well if all those got NC 17, then my comparison was idiotic. I take it back.


I don't necessarily think it's an MPAA fault. Why won't Fox just distribute the picture as NC17? Get a good campaign, sell it as an arthouse adult film, do right by the movie and its maker.

Of course, I'm being naive...

[Fernando]

More bad news SNT. From imdb.

Bertolucci Film To Be Censored for Sundance Screening.

Fox Searchlight is expected to screen a highly censored version of Bernardo Bertolucci's controversial The Dreamers at the Sundance Film Festival this week, the London Sunday Times reported. In advance of its scheduled domestic release in March, the studio has reportedly made cuts of as much as 60 seconds to scenes involving frontal nudity and male masturbation, the newspaper said. In an interview with the Sunday Times, the cuts were condemned by one of the film's stars, Eva Green. "It is quite paradoxical, because in America there is so much violence, both on the streets and on the screen. They think nothing of it. Yet I think they are frightened by sex." (Bertolucci himself has previously expressed concern that his film would be "mutilated" by U.S. censors.) The newspaper said that the film will be shown uncut when it is released in the U.K.

[godardian]

I wonder who would be hurt more by a cinema boycott/DVD consumer-support of this film? I wouldn't want to hurt Bertolucci's film by skipping it 'til DVD, but then again, I don't want to give my money to a company that's skimping me on what I'm buying AND screwing Bertolucci. Torn...

[edison]

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Fox Searchlight Pictures is daring to challenge the NC-17 taboo. The specialty films division of 20th Century Fox said Monday it will release the uncut version of Bernardo Bertolucci (news)'s "The Dreamers," marking the first time in more than six years that a studio belonging to the Motion Picture Assn. of America has distributed a film rated NC-17, a tag that generally means commercial death. The last time a major studio ventured into NC-17 territory was in 1997, when MGM released "Bent," which documented the plight of homosexuals under Nazism. "Dreamers," which will be rolled out in platform release starting Feb. 6 in New York and Los Angeles, contains graphic sexual content and full frontal male nudity. Helmer Bertolucci said in a statement: "'The Dreamers' is finally making it to the U.S. in its uncut version. I'm relieved -- in so many ways -- that the distributor has had the vision to release my original film. After all, an orgasm is better than a bomb." Set against the political backdrop of France in the spring of 1968, the film centers on the relationship of three students played by Eva Green, Louis Garrel and Michael Pitt (news). Left alone while their parents are on holiday, Isabelle (Green) and her brother Theo (Garrel) invite Matthew (Pitt), a young American, to stay at their apartment. There, they make their own rules as they experiment with their emotions and sexuality while playing a series of increasingly demanding mind games.
In making the decision to roll out the NC-17-rated version, Fox Searchlight distribution president Steve Gilula said company brass "looked carefully at the historical evidence on the rating." "We found that it's largely unused and mostly dormant," he said. "There are films with similar content that get played as unrated movies, so by using this rating you are just testing audiences' perception. And we found that the rating doesn't carry as much baggage as it did some time ago."
Movies in recent years that have earned the rating include such indie titles as "L.I.E.," "Crash" and "Requiem for a Dream" and studio releases "Henry and June" and "Showgirls."
But studios have often insisted that their specialty divisions steer clear of the NC-17 rating because many in the industry believe that some newspapers will not carry advertising for such films and some theater chains will not play them. Miramax, a division of the Walt Disney Co., had to abandon plans to distribute "Kids," which was released unrated through Shining Excalibur Films, a separate company set up to handle its rollout. And Universal Pictures refused to allow its October Films arm to release "Happiness" in 1998; it was distributed instead by indie firm Good Machine. Gilula said Fox Searchlight has not yet encountered any problems with theaters agreeing to play the movie or newspapers agreeing to carry advertising. He said executives at his company were dedicated to allowing Bertolucci's vision for the project to remain intact.
"This is a filmmaker who has a history of dealing with daring and provocative subject matter that tests the limits in film," Gilula said of Bertolucci, whose previous works include "Last Tango in Paris," "The Conformist," "Stealing Beauty" and "Before the Revolution." A success in 1973, Bertolucci's "Last Tango" was originally released with an X rating, which predated the MPAA's current adults-only rating, the NC-17.
"It's a film of serious subject matter that is very entertaining and deserves to be seen in the form that he intended by appropriate audiences," Gilula said of "Dreamers." Searchlight is prepared to unspool the film in more than 100 theaters, Gilula said, but will take it wider depending on the public's response. "'The Dreamers' provocatively explores human sexuality in a frank way," Fox Searchlight president Peter Rice said in a statement. "By releasing the film as Bernardo originally intended, we are following in the footsteps of classic films like 'Midnight Cowboy' and 'Last Tango in Paris.' We believe that NC-17 is the appropriate rating for 'The Dreamers' given that this is not a film for children under 17; it is an audacious and original film for intelligent critics and discerning adult audiences." Sundance Film Festival (news - web sites) attendees will have a chance to see Bertolucci's "The Dreamers" when the film makes its North American premiere in Park City on Jan. 20.

[SoNowThen]

Best fucking news I've heard this year. Sound like someone making the decisions at Fox has a brain in their head.

Cannot wait to see this!!

[ono]

*does a little happy dance*

I'm marking March 19th on my calendar.  Er, wait, last I checked, IMDb said a March 19th limited release.  Now that's changed?  Anyway, when is it set for a wide release?  That's more important.  Either way, I won't get to see it until a few weeks after that, most likely.  Art houses around here are a little slow like that.

[MacGuffin]

Bertolucci's badge of honor: NC-17
The director trumpets the uncut release of 'Dreamers' as a victory.
Source: Los Angeles Times

LONDON — NC-17 may represent a scarlet letter to most movie marketers, but for Bernardo Bertolucci, it's a badge of honor and artistic integrity.

"This is a victory," Bertolucci said Tuesday. "And not just for me — it's a victory for freedom of expression."

The Italian director was exulting in the decision of Fox Searchlight Pictures to release his controversial, erotic new film "The Dreamers" uncut with an NC-17 rating (no one younger than 17 admitted).

The company's apparent U-turn, announced Monday, came after last year's attack by Bertolucci on Fox Searchlight's parent company 20th Century Fox, when it suggested "The Dreamers" should be cut to gain an R rating.

The film, set in the summer of 1968 in Paris, when students and workers clashed with riot police, is about three movie-buff teenagers — a French twin brother and sister, and a young American. Left to their own devices in the twins' apartment while their parents are away on vacation, the trio play film trivia quizzes and psychological games involving sexual forfeits. "The Dreamers" includes candid scenes of masturbation, graphic sex and full-frontal nudity.

"I'm happy with the fact the film is coming out [in America] in its entirety," said Bertolucci, speaking by phone from his office in Rome. "No one will ever know why it took so long to get to this point."

Fox Searchlight's decision is an intriguing one. For years, major studios who are signatories to the Motion Picture Assn. of America have opted to cut contentious movies in order to secure an R rating. The last major studio film to open with an NC-17 rating was "Showgirls" in 1995. Some studios, such as the Disney-owned Miramax, even have clauses in their contracts prohibiting the production or distribution of NC-17 films.

Peter Rice, the head of Fox Searchlight, said his bosses, 20th Century Fox Chairmen Tom Rothman and Jim Gianopulos, respected his decision to keep the NC-17 rating.

"There was a lot of discussion but ultimately we, as an independent company within a larger organization, are incredibly lucky in the amount of support we get from our parent company," said Rice.

Bertolucci, 63, is widely regarded as a master of world cinema, thanks to such work as "The Last Emperor" (his 1987 film that won nine Oscars), "The Conformist," "1900" and "The Spider's Strategem." But he also is no stranger to controversy; his 1973 movie "Last Tango in Paris" (originally rated X, now rated NC-17) caused an outrage when it was released. Coincidentally, that film was also about sexual partners in a Parisian apartment.

He was contractually obliged by Fox Searchlight to deliver an R-rated film. But in September at the Venice Film Festival, he flamboyantly made public his grievances about the proposed cuts to "The Dreamers."

At a crowded press conference, he declared it was likely to be "amputated and mutilated" for its U.S. release. Noting that the film would be seen uncut throughout Europe, he added: "Some people obviously think the American public is immature." Bertolucci disclosed Tuesday that he had been talking with Fox Searchlight executives since Venice. "I said I was very sorry that I had to make the cuts to deliver an R-rated movie," he recalled.

"Then I stopped fighting, because it seemed to me there was no way a major movie studio would release an NC-17 movie. That was what I had always been told."

But last week Fox Searchlight informed the film's British producer, Jeremy Thomas, that "The Dreamers" would open with an NC-17 rating. "That came out of the blue," Bertolucci said. "But they've said they're doing this because of their respect for my work. So let us accept what they say."

Despite suggestions the NC-17 rating may hamper the marketing of "The Dreamers," Bertolucci said Fox Searchlight had given assurances that only a few American theaters would balk at exhibiting the film and that TV advertising would not be affected.

Executives at Fox Searchlight insist the movie will live or die by its critical reception in the U.S. — not by the rating. Its first big test will be how well it is received when it premieres at the Sundance Film Festival. Searchlight's distribution team already is booking theaters in major cities such as New York and Los Angeles. In the next few weeks Searchlight will find out if exhibitors in more conservative places like Salt Lake City and Omaha, Neb., are willing to book the movie.

One memorable quote has already emerged from the resolution of the dispute. Bertolucci, as well as other filmmakers and critics such as Roger Ebert, have often been scathing about Hollywood studios' greater tolerance for violence on screen than for portrayals of sexuality. In a statement issued Monday by Fox Searchlight, Bertolucci remarked: "After all, an orgasm is better than a bomb."

"I was just making a link with 1968, when people used to say 'make love not war.' It was a little joke." Bertolucci is now interested to see whether other studios will follow Fox Searchlight's lead and take a different view on the NC-17 rating: "It wouldn't be bad," he said. "I'd be very happy if this could start a new direction."

That remains to be seen. Of the nearly 70 movies the MPAA website lists as rated NC-17, all of them are for explicit sexual content or nudity. Violence is not mentioned in a single description, unlike many films that end up with an R rating. Quentin Tarantino's crimson-drenched "Kill Bill: Vol. 1," for example, was rated R "for strong bloody violence, language and some sexual content." "The Dreamers" earned its NC-17 "for explicit sexual content."

Bertolucci is scheduled to arrive Monday at Sundance in Park City, Utah, for the U.S. premiere of "The Dreamers." It opens Feb. 6 in the U.S.

[Pwaybloe]

I don't understand why Bertolucci won't just send it to theaters as "Unrated."

But I do understand the buzz this is going to cause, which will hopefully return in dollars.  

Regardless, I will be very surprised if this movie shows in my town with the "NC-17."