‘Dreams’ marks the decline of Michel Franco’s provocative and uncomfortable cinema

Michel Franco (New Order) has always been a filmmaker of extremes — loved and hated with the same intensity. Since After Lucia (2012), his relentless portrait of bullyingthe Mexican director has built a reputation for teasing viewers with harsh, morally ambiguous narratives. More than a decade later, however, Dreamshis new film, reveals a domesticated author. The former calculated cruelty gives way to a showcase nihilism, and the discomfort that once pulsed through his projects now seems rehearsed and empty.

The choice of Jessica Chastain (The Big Play), Oscar-winning star capable of transforming any project into an event, is the most obvious asset of Dreams — and what justifies this launch on the circuit. It is possible that in this partnership lies the actress’s desire to delve into morally unstable and more challenging territory, but what is found is little more than an echo of the Michel Franco of yore. The director promises to comment on the tensions between love, class and power, but limits himself to a superficial and apathetic melodrama.

The plot continues Fernando (Isaac Hernandez), Mexican dancer who tries to return illegally to the United States to find Jennifer (Chastain), socialite and philanthropist with whom he had an affair. The promising prologue suggests a contemporary commentary on immigration and inequality. However, the couple’s reunion quickly turns the story into a predictable study of domination and guilt — and this is where the imbalance between the protagonists becomes evident. Hernandezrenowned in ballet, demonstrates that it does not have the dramatic intensity necessary to sustain the emotional tension of the narrative. It is worth mentioning that not even their dance scenes are well used by the camera. Franco.

Chastain swallows him into the scene. The actress carries the film with presence and elegance, offering a powerful performance, but one that the script does not follow. Parading costumes in a presentation worthy of Grace Kelly in Coat Thiefit gives some nobility to the void. His delivery, however, only highlights the contrast between the luxury of images and the poverty of ideas. Instead of revealing the fissures of its characters, Franco settles into a clean, controlled staging, with no room for the unexpected: everything revolves around this hard-to-buy romance.

The moral ambiguity that was once the hallmark of his cinema now sounds automatic and tepid. The neutral look at the protagonists’ toxic relationship does not provoke reflection, but indifference. Franco clings too much to this forbidden romance and yet takes little away from it. In fact, this seems to be the only big issue in this story full of rough edges that could and should be of more interest to the script. And when the director resorts to a rape scene filmed with detachment, the gesture becomes a symptom of exhaustion. Violence, here, means nothing — it only reaffirms a fantasized void of depth.

In short, Dreams it is a restrained melodrama that ends up leaving a bitter taste not because of what it provokes, but because of what it avoids. Franco he seems to film by inertia, trapped in a formula that no longer challenges him — and doesn’t even move us. If one day its cruelty served to expose humanity, shock audiences and cause discomfort, now it only serves to confirm its decline — an elegant film, yes, but incapable of making people feel what is expected of it.

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• criticism

• Jessica Chastain

• Michel Franco

• dreams