Love Torn in a Dream
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| Love Torn in a Dream | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Raúl Ruiz |
| Written by | Raúl Ruiz |
| Produced by | Paulo Branco |
| Starring | Melvil Poupaud Elsa Zylberstein Lambert Wilson |
| Cinematography | Acácio de Almeida |
| Edited by | Valeria Sarmiento |
| Music by | Jorge Arriagada |
| Distributed by | Le Petit Bureau |
Release date |
|
Running time | 123 minutes |
| Countries | France Portugal Chile |
| Languages | French Portuguese Spanish |
Love Torn in a Dream (French: Combat d'amour en songe) is a 2000
Shot in
Plot
The film begins in black and white with a self-aware narrated scene of Love Torn Within a Dream, where producer Paulo Branco welcomes the cast at a celebratory ceremony. The film quickly establishes that there are nine interwoven stories that will be depicted throughout the film. This is aided by an illustrated configuration on a chalkboard that explicitly references the theories of Ramon Lull's ars combinatoria - an artistic preoccupation of Ruiz. Through overlapping threads and exchanged objects, these nine stories form twelve supposed stories in total, although the situation becomes increasingly convoluted as the film progresses.
Several actors play different characters across the storylines and centuries. For instance, Elsa Zylberstein portrays both Lucrezia, a nun-turned mystical nymph, and modern-day Jessica, who interacts with Paul, a student disturbed by a website predicting his future. Similarly, Melvil Poupaud plays both Paul, the troubled young Catholic who discovers he is Jewish, and a character named Jacques, a Protestant theologian. Many other actors also portray different characters in various roles throughout the film.
The film explores themes such as a young theology student grappling with doubts over institutional ideologies and hypocrisy, the dangerous power of storytelling, shifting and self-proclaimed denial of identities, as well as piracy, charmed objects that act upon the bearers, maps, and cannibalism. These preoccupations and trademarks are recognizable to any seasoned fan of Ruiz's work.
Cast
- Melvil Poupaud as Paul, the young priest, doubting twin brothers
- Elsa Zylberstein as Lucrezia, Jessica, the sultana
- Lambert Wilson as Sebatol, pirate
- Christian Vadim as David, pirate thief
- Marie-France Pisier as mother, married woman
- Rogerio Samoraas Baniel, pirate
- Diogo Dória as Mariani, painter, father
Reception
Variety identified it as "witty diversion for upscale auds," perhaps hinting at the lofty, enigmatic narrative games it plays, praised it as "another sly, spry intellectual game", but complained about the excessive length of the film.[2] Les Inrockuptibles found it impossible to summarize, and suggested it was a kind of self-parody of Ruiz's earlier films.[3] Dennis Schwartz, of Ozus' World Movie Reviews, gave this "idiosyncratic film" a B− on Rotten Tomatoes, and described it as "an acting exercise to show-off the film-makers rich imagination."[4]
Love Torn in a Dream won the
Soundtrack
See also
- Ramon Lull
- Art of memory
- List of nonlinear narrative films
References
- ^ "Love Torn in a Dream (2000) - IMDb". IMDb.
- ^ Harvey, Dennis (18 September 2000). "Review: 'Love Torn in Dream'". Variety Magazine. Variety Magazine. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
- ^ Combat d’amour en songe, Les InRocks
- ^ Schwartz, Dennis. "It Veers from Being Silly to Profound". Ozus' World Movie Reviews. Ozus' World Movie Reviews. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
- ^ "Awards of Montreal World Film Festival - 2000". Festival des Films Monde. Festival des Films Monde. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
- ^ "Jorge Arriagada". IMDb. IMDb. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
External links
- Love Torn in a Dream at IMDb
