An Analysis of Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers from a Symbolist Perspective

Abstract

Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers, adapted from the novel The Holy Innocents by Gilbert Adair, is set against the backdrop of Events of May 1968 in Paris, though without making much visible effort to reconstruct the look of the period. This paper attempts to analyze the character behavior of The Dreamers from the perspective of Freudian psychoanalysis and explore the ideology and culture represented by Isabella, Theo, and Matthew from the perspective of symbolism, with the interperation of the story background and metaphor of the whole film.