“Dreams” (2025) would shock Emerald Fennell and may be the unexpected, imagination fueled second coming of “The Night Porter” (1974). Undocumented Mexican ballet dancer, Fernando Rodriguez (Isaac Hernandez) believes that he and American charity foundation head, Jennifer McCarthy (Jessica Chastain), are in a relationship. She wants to be with him without risking her societal status. He backs off, but she does not. Is there a way for them to be together and on the same wavelength? Oof, the answer to that question is provocative and controversial. I would be very interested to read what Mexican critics think. Mexican writer and director Michel Franco’s latest film is a huge improvement on his first film with Chastain, “Memory” (2023), but not as consistently moving as “Sundown” (2021). Well, damn.
“Dreams” is a show, don’t tell, film and consists of a series of mostly still shots that vary in distance from the subject. Franco expects the audience to speak the language of film and figure out the characters, their motivations, their worlds then the dynamics when people and worlds collide. Who belongs and why? Movies with affluent characters are always fictional and say more about the zeitgeist’s view of the affluent than reality unless the filmmaker has some ground level experience or entry point. It is likely that Michel’s film is downright genteel compared to the reality of undocumented immigrants currently, which is still a shock.
When Michel introduces Fernando, he does not stand out among a mass of people until his focus and movement separate him. With only the clothes on his back, he peels away willing to lose even his backpack then marches forward like a salmon going upstream to his destination. Michel plays “Where’s Waldo” with normally background, invisible Mexican people thus asking the questions when can Mexican people coexist openly with Americans, where can they be without being harassed, what are they doing when they share the same space with Americans, are they people or a function, and most importantly, why does Fernando get special treatment? The fabric of America is this fiction of merit, and Hernandez is actually a great dancer, which is not shown until late in the proceedings. His first talent is being great in bed. Hernandez plays Fernado as more than a man seeking a green card. His role defies gender standards. He is the kept girlfriend who demands more, or he is out the door.
Jennifer appears to be polished and want for nothing, which is a lie. She wants Fernando desperately but is not willing to do anything to keep him. She is more inscrutable. Does she engage in charity as part of the sex tourism industry or is she genuinely interested in the arts and Fernando is the embodiment of serendipity? Patriarch Michael McCarthy (Marshall Bell) makes all the money, and her brother, Jake (Rupert Friend), funnels enough money to keep the foundation going. They swan around different events for photo ops capturing their largesse. In public, she wears white, and when she loses Fernando, her colors become more monotone in a funereal quality. When Fernando’s star starts to soar independently from her, she sees a path to acceptable openness and recapturing Fernando’s affection on his terms then she busts out in redder colors. Happy ending?
Even when her initial reservations can be dismissed, the strain on their relationship becomes evident. “Dreams” may be one of the few movies besides “Lady Macbeth” (2016) where the power dynamics constantly shift in unexpected ways. The blending of worlds brings joy to Fernando and brings out the worst in Jennifer though a slight laugh and smile from her appears to dispel the tension. In one scene, a waiter (Sedrick Cabrera) serves them, and Fernando decides to ask questions in Spanish then *gasp* treat him like a human being. It is the first time that a Mexican character is individuated with a name. Mexican characters appear as cleaners, wait staff, chauffeurs, bartenders, etc., but they do not get names, hopes or dreams as Fernando does. At most, two Mexican women’s homes are shown, and one shows sexual interest in Fernando, but it never goes beyond a single scene though she appears to have a financially secure life. Fernando becomes a gateway to humanizing the help, and Jennifer is depicted as already innately uncomfortable with Fernando as a step to civil revolution before her family starts to realize what is happening.
One of Franco’s nicest touches is that the McCarthy family actually likes each other. Yes, wealthy people are people. Some would not know their kids if they bumped into them on their property, but others can be quite close. When they are not in front of the camera, they have a lot of gentle camaraderie and hang out with each other outside of business. The siblings are complementary, not competitive. Their veneer is open and multicultural, but they have limits. They need control and distance. They want grateful artists, not equals or people who surpass them. Fernando triggers the pet or threat dynamic without realizing it.
The denouement is going to be controversial, and no one reaches the end without becoming their worst selves. It is the most antiseptic, clinical and Millennial gray explosion with a huge impact. Movies like “The Help” (2011) and “One Battle After Another” (2025) can be problematic because they often depict characters in the most FOX news fever-dreamed way that may be intended to be subversive but fulfill biased people’s stereotypes of groups that bear little resemblance to reality. In “The Help,” because Jim Crow Southerners treat Black people as if they are dirty, they cannot use the bathroom, then one of the servants puts shit in a pie. Yes, it is an act of revenge, but it is also this cinematic validation of a racist fear. In “One Battle After Another,” the most visible Black women revolutionaries are hypersexual, violent Jezebels. Jennifer and Fernando end up becoming each other’s worst version if reinterpreted through their respective media. While it is affronting, in retrospect, it feels obvious as if there was nowhere else the story could go.
The ending of “Dreams” is a “be careful what you wish for” situation, a nightmare Gift of the Magi with each of them getting what they want. I am more concerned that it may have the unintended effect of reinforcing existing, dangerous racial profiling. Franco’s lesson seems to be that the world is cooked if this scenario is more feasible than just appearing in public and being happy together. From costume designer Mitchell Travers to set decorator Daniela Pieck Gómez Moriín, every attention to detail tells the story. If there is only one quibble, there is one dance scene when Franco places the camera parallel to the action which means that the dancers’ entire body is not captured, only the torso, which is my biggest criticism in all films that do not use the Fred Astaire method of filming choreography, i.e. capturing the entire body in the frame. Even if there was a seasoned reason for the creative choice, it is still a cardinal sin. Otherwise, Franco’s commitment to his vision, excellence in every aspect of execution (acting, composition, diegetic sound, story, etc.) and having his finger on the pulse of hot button issues makes his latest film an unflinching, incisive, uncomfortable film.
