The Dreamers
Paris, spring 1968. While most students take the lead in the May 'revolution', a French poet's twin son Theo and daughter Isabelle enjoy the good life in his grand Paris home. As film buffs they meet and 'adopt' modest, conservatively educated Californian student Matthew. With their parents away for a month, they drag him into an orgy of indulgence of all senses, losing all of his and the last of their innocence. A sexual threesome shakes their rapport, yet only the outside reality will break it up.
Working with a mid-range budget of $15.0M, the film achieved a modest success with $15.1M in global revenue (+1% profit margin).
2 wins & 11 nominations
Plot Structure
Story beats plotted across runtime
Narrative Arc
Emotional journey through the story's key moments
Story Circle
Blueprint 15-beat structure
Arcplot Score Breakdown
Weighted: Precision (70%) + Arc (15%) + Theme (15%)
The Dreamers (2003) reveals precise narrative architecture, characteristic of Bernardo Bertolucci's storytelling approach. This structural analysis examines how the film's 15-point plot structure maps to proven narrative frameworks across 1 hour and 55 minutes. With an Arcplot score of 6.7, the film balances conventional beats with creative variation.
Structural Analysis
The Status Quo at 1 minutes (1% through the runtime) establishes Matthew, an American student in Paris, stands alone outside the Cinémathèque Française. He is isolated, a cinephile seeking connection in a foreign city during the spring of 1968.. Of particular interest, this early placement immediately immerses viewers in the story world.
The inciting incident occurs at 13 minutes when Isabelle and Theo invite Matthew to dinner at their apartment. This invitation disrupts his solitary existence and offers entry into their mysterious, intimate world.. At 12% through the film, this Disruption aligns precisely with traditional story structure. This beat shifts the emotional landscape, launching the protagonist into the central conflict.
The First Threshold at 28 minutes marks the transition into Act II, occurring at 25% of the runtime. This shows the protagonist's commitment to Matthew accepts the twins' invitation to stay with them while their parents are away. He actively chooses to enter their private, transgressive world of games, cinema obsession, and blurred boundaries., moving from reaction to action.
At 58 minutes, the Midpoint arrives at 50% of the runtime—precisely centered, creating perfect narrative symmetry. Significantly, this crucial beat Matthew and Isabelle become sexually involved, seemingly breaking the twins' closed unit. This appears to be liberation and connection (false victory), but actually deepens Matthew's entrapment in their fantasy while outside Paris burns with real revolution., fundamentally raising what's at risk. The emotional intensity shifts, dividing the narrative into clear before-and-after phases.
The Collapse moment at 87 minutes (75% through) represents the emotional nadir. Here, The parents return home unexpectedly, discovering the three naked and asleep together. The dream world shatters. Theo and Isabelle attempt a suicide pact with the gas oven, revealing the death drive beneath their romantic idealism., indicates the protagonist at their lowest point. This beat's placement in the final quarter sets up the climactic reversal.
The Second Threshold at 94 minutes initiates the final act resolution at 81% of the runtime. A brick crashes through the window from the street riots outside. The outside world literally breaks into their sealed space. They must choose: continue the dream or face reality., demonstrating the transformation achieved throughout the journey.
Emotional Journey
The Dreamers's emotional architecture traces a deliberate progression across 15 carefully calibrated beats.
Narrative Framework
This structural analysis employs systematic plot point analysis that identifies crucial turning points. By mapping The Dreamers against these established plot points, we can identify how Bernardo Bertolucci utilizes or subverts traditional narrative conventions. The plot point approach reveals not only adherence to structural principles but also creative choices that distinguish The Dreamers within the drama genre.
Bernardo Bertolucci's Structural Approach
Among the 5 Bernardo Bertolucci films analyzed on Arcplot, the average structural score is 6.9, demonstrating varied approaches to story architecture. The Dreamers takes a more unconventional approach compared to the director's typical style. For comparative analysis, explore the complete Bernardo Bertolucci filmography.
Comparative Analysis
Additional drama films include Eye for an Eye, South Pacific and Kiss of the Spider Woman. For more Bernardo Bertolucci analyses, see Little Buddha, Last Tango in Paris and Stealing Beauty.
Plot Points by Act
Act I
SetupStatus Quo
Matthew, an American student in Paris, stands alone outside the Cinémathèque Française. He is isolated, a cinephile seeking connection in a foreign city during the spring of 1968.
Theme
At a protest for the Cinémathèque, Theo speaks about the importance of cinema and cultural revolution. The theme emerges: the tension between artistic idealism and political reality, between dreams and awakening.
Worldbuilding
Matthew meets the enigmatic twins Theo and Isabelle at the Cinémathèque. They bond over their shared love of cinema. Paris in 1968 is established: student unrest brewing, cinephile culture, the insular world of film obsession.
Disruption
Isabelle and Theo invite Matthew to dinner at their apartment. This invitation disrupts his solitary existence and offers entry into their mysterious, intimate world.
Resistance
Matthew gets to know the twins and their bohemian parents. He senses something unusual about their relationship but is drawn to their charisma. The parents leave for the countryside, creating opportunity.
Act II
ConfrontationFirst Threshold
Matthew accepts the twins' invitation to stay with them while their parents are away. He actively chooses to enter their private, transgressive world of games, cinema obsession, and blurred boundaries.
Mirror World
The three begin playing movie-based games with forfeits. Isabelle becomes the thematic mirror: she represents uninhibited freedom and sensuality that challenges Matthew's American conservatism and moral boundaries.
Premise
The trio lives in a hermetic bubble of cinema reenactments, philosophical debates, sexual exploration, and boundary-breaking games. Matthew experiences the freedom and danger of their insular dream world, increasingly entangled in the twins' symbiotic relationship.
Midpoint
Matthew and Isabelle become sexually involved, seemingly breaking the twins' closed unit. This appears to be liberation and connection (false victory), but actually deepens Matthew's entrapment in their fantasy while outside Paris burns with real revolution.
Opposition
The games become darker and more dangerous. Political arguments arise between Matthew's liberal humanism and the twins' radical Maoism. The sealed apartment becomes claustrophobic. Their fantasy world increasingly conflicts with the violent reality of the student riots outside.
Collapse
The parents return home unexpectedly, discovering the three naked and asleep together. The dream world shatters. Theo and Isabelle attempt a suicide pact with the gas oven, revealing the death drive beneath their romantic idealism.
Crisis
Matthew stops the suicide attempt. The illusion is broken. They must confront reality: their games were escapism, their radicalism was theoretical, and the real revolution has been happening outside their window all along.
Act III
ResolutionSecond Threshold
A brick crashes through the window from the street riots outside. The outside world literally breaks into their sealed space. They must choose: continue the dream or face reality.
Synthesis
They emerge into the Paris streets amid chaos: barricades, police violence, tear gas. Theo and Isabelle rush to join the rioters. Matthew tries to stop them from throwing a Molotov cocktail, finally seeing the distinction between romantic revolution and real violence.
Transformation
Matthew walks away from the twins as they run toward the violent confrontation. He has awakened from the dream, choosing reality over fantasy, moral clarity over ideological romance. The twins remain dreamers; Matthew has transformed.