Dreams
Michel Franco paves a boulevard of broken dreams in a fiery reteam with the commanding Jessica Chastain.
Basic Instincts: Isaac Hernández and Jessica Chastain
Image courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment, property of Teorema.
by Chad Kennerk
The work of Mexican writer-director Michel Franco frequently blends the intimacy of emotionally messy relationships with scorching critiques on power and class systems. Dreams continues that focus, crafting a provocative, timely story of opportunity and erotic obsession. Through her production company, Freckle Films, Jessica Chastain has developed the agency to tell female-centric stories about emotionally complex women in thorny situations. Written by Franco specifically for Chastain, following their 2023 collaboration Memory, Dreams presents the kind of straightforward, thought-provoking narrative Franco excels at. He taps Chastain’s boundless talent for an immigration love story that mirrors the passionate, fraught relationship between America and Mexico.
An idle semi-truck by a railroad track full of hopeful illegal immigrants introduces Fernando Rodriguez (Isaac Hernández), a talented young ballet dancer who arrives in America with the shirt on his back and a desire for a bigger stage. He makes his way to San Francisco and into the bed of his wealthy arts philanthropist girlfriend Jennifer McCarthy, played with razor-sharp control by Jessica Chastain. Although they both move through the same ballet world (she oversees funding for the dance programme where he trained in Mexico), her affluent life and impeccably curated fashion are a sharp contrast to Fernando’s school of hard knocks. Through her father’s foundation, Jennifer funds San Francisco’s art scene and has the power to shape it by raising up talent or quietly holding it back. Caught in a dance between two worlds, Jennifer and Fernando fight to meet in the middle, powered by a sexual hunger that plays out with the drama of a ballet headed for a climax.
Within the couple’s increasingly toxic relationship, borders are crossed politically, physically and emotionally. She can’t be bothered to learn Spanish but gets angry when she can’t understand his conversation with a waiter. She works for a foundation dedicated to elevating artist voices, yet treats him like an acquisition. There’s a lot of sharp social critique at play, and even when it’s on the nose, it feels tame in comparison to any given day of recent US news. Dreams is certainly not shy when it comes to sex either. Franco’s frames pulse with carnal energy, and there’s some electric chemistry between Chastain and Hernández, a real-life celebrated dancer who holds his own opposite Chastain.
Franco provides no easy answers, opening a conversation rather than trying to force an agenda. Chastain, who was so moving in Franco’s Memory, thrives in this colder climate as a woman accustomed to getting exactly what she wants. It’s a terrific shade on Chastain, who has made it clear she wants to explore humanity — the good, the bad, and the ugly. Franco may well have found a new muse, and she embraces his stripped-down rhythms in a commanding performance. Balancing eroticism with something far more unsettling, Franco asks who gets to dream and who decides which dreams are worth supporting.
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Isaac Hernández, Rupert Friend, Marshall Bell, Eligio Meléndez, Mercedes Hernández.
Dir Michel Franco, Pro Michel Franco, Eréndira Núñez Larios, Alexander Rodnyansky, Screenplay Michel Franco, Ph Yves Cape, Pro Des Alfredo Wigueras, Ed Óscar Figueroa, Costumes Mitchell Travers, Sound Aviv Aldema.
AR Content/Eastern Film/Freckle Films/Teorema-Greenwich Entertainment (US).
98 mins. Mexico/USA. 2025. US Rel: 27 February 2025. Cert. NR (US).
