Film Reference In The Dreamers (2003)

List of film reference in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers (2003)

Shock Corridor (1963) by Samuel Fuller

The film Matthew watches at the Cinémathèque Française at the beginning of the movie.

Bande À Part (1964) by Jean-Luc Godard

Isabelle, Theo, and Matthew race through the Louvre, attempting to break the record depicted in Bande à part of 9 minutes, 43 seconds.

Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne (1945) by Robert Bresson

Isabelle quotes a famous line from this film, telling Matthew “There is no such thing as love, only proofs of love”.

Persona (1966) by Ingmar Bergman Matthew has a picture of Liv Ullman and Bibi Andersson from Persona in his apartment

La Chinoise (1967) by Jean-Luc Godard A poster of the film hangs on a wall in the twins’ apartment.

Blonde Venus (1932) by Josef von Sternberg Isabelle reenacts scene in white painting clothes.

Freaks (1932) by Tod Browning After Isabelle, Theo, and Matthew run through the Louvre, Isabelle and Theo signify their acceptance of Matthew by chanting, “We accept him, one of us,” in a reflection of the wedding reception in Freaks.

L’Age d’Or (1930) by Luis Buñuel Matthew sucks the toe of Isabelle, imitating Lya Lys in Luis Buñuel’s controversial film.

Scarface (1983) by Brian De Palma Theo reenacts the death of the character Tony Camonte played by Paul Muni, challenging Isabelle to name the film.

Queen Christina (1933) by Rouben Mamoulian Isabelle reenacts the scene in which Greta Garbo’s character Queen Christina “memorizes the room,” in Matthew’s bedroom, the first night he sleeps over.

Top Hat (1935) by Mark Sandrich Isabelle challenges Matthew to name a scene in which a tap dancer wakes a woman in the apartment below, then Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are seen.

À bout de souffle (1960) by Jean-Luc Godard Isabelle imitates Jean Seberg’s Patricia the first night Matthew stays with her and Theo. Isabelle claims her first words in English were “New York Herald Tribune”, a conscious reference to the French New Wave film “Breathless”, in which the heroine Patricia yells the same thing. The reference is accompanied by a segment of said film. Matthew imitates Jean-Paul Belmondo’s character by rubbing his lips with his thumb in front of the mirror (something which Jean-Paul does to imitate Humphrey Bogart).

Sunset Boulevard (1950) by Billy Wilder Isabelle puts on sunglasses and a head wrap giving an emotionless gaze, imitating Gloria Swanson’s Norma Desmond character in the scene where William Holden’s Joe Gillis character has entered the run-down mansion and is made to read a script that Desmond has been writing for her planned comeback.

Mouchette (1967) by Robert Bresson After Isabelle realizes her mother has seen her sleeping naked with her brother she tries to kill the three of them with natural gas. When she closes her eyes images of the suicide of Mouchette from Robert Bresson’s film appear.