Ua sensual and destructive love story but also a provocative reflection on society and human interactions, always marked by power dynamics. Two years after his last film MemoryMexican director Michel Franco returns with the new one Dreamsin cinemas from November 20th through Fandango. Presented first at the 2024 Berlinale, then at the Rome Film Festival 2025is a drama with strong erotic overtones starring Jessica Chastain and the thirty-five-year-old Mexican Isaac Hernández, principal dancer of the American Ballet Theatre. The two have a 13 year age difference but, as the protagonist told us in this interview, “the film goes beyond the simple age difference: it addresses privilege, economics, power and manipulation”.
Through the passionate relationship between characters, universal themes emerge, such as mutual dependence, and political ones, such as the struggle for dignity. One looks out irreverent perspective also on the American dreamseen through the eyes of Fernando, a Mexican who dreams of America.
Dreamsthe film with Jessica Chastain, the clip
In the clip, the two protagonists, Jennifer and Fernando, appear: they do not speak, but the erotic tension between the two is palpable. She is a woman from a privileged background: a refined philanthropist of American high society. He a young and talented Mexican dancer who dreams of international recognition and a new life in the United States.
The plot of Michael Franco’s film
Convinced that Jennifer, his lover, will support him in realizing his ambitions, Fernando decides to leave everything behind and puts his life in danger to chase his dream. But his arrival in the States ends up upsetting the world carefully constructed by Jennifer. She is afraid of being seen with him: there are class and age differences. No one would understand, certainly not his family.
Fernando, proud, prefers to return to Mexico rather than play the role of the “toy boy”. Maybe she loves him, maybe not: she certainly wants control of him. And so she goes to get him back, only to then not bear the idea that he could build a career and a life of which she is not at the center. It is an unbalanced relationship, a metaphor for relations between the United States and Mexico, now more relevant than ever.
The hunt for illegal immigrants in the United States
The Mexican director shot Dreams two years ago, when the “hunt” for illegal immigrants was already intense in the USA. Today, with the Trump presidency, the film has become even more relevantas the director explained at the Rome Film Festival. «Since I was a child I have seen my compatriots crossing the border, risking their lives. The problem is that today hate speeches against immigrants are cleared through customs. This is extremely dangerous, and there is a growing problem of racism. Unfortunately, Mexico is a country from which people still flee, because it is corrupt, dominated by drug cartels, and there are many people who have no choice if they want to survive: they have to leave.”
In a rich and progressive San Francisco, the protagonist’s philanthropic actions appear as cosmetic actions. «She is convinced that money can buy a better conscience and decide what is best for others. Obviously you don’t know what’s best for a person who comes from another world, from another country, and I think this can be a very dangerous aspect of wealth.”
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