I think it would be hard to create a tone deaf film in 2025. With 24/7 access to outcries on social media about art, and an abundance of access to the reception to media depicting world issues, Dreams is a new film by Michel Franco that unfortunately falls into this category of lacking a sensitivity to real world situations. Starring Jessica Chastain and ballet dancer Isaac Hernández, the film attempts to portray a passionate love affair in the heat of growing border patrol, but falls flat of ever delivering any kind of fiery passion, or any pointed commentary on the state of America today.

We begin with a shot of a truck and the sun setting around it, as unseen people in the back of the truck begin to yell. Cries for help, to let them out, locked in the confined space that got them across the border. When help does finally arrive, we see Fernando (Isaac Hernández) a young ballet dancer from Mexico escape the surrounding law enforcement, finding himself in the United States of America. Reuniting with his past mentor and lover Jennifer (Jessica Chastain), their rekindled love affair takes a harsh turn when Jennifer’s lively hood is threatened by their relationship, and as Fernando must continue to live on the run from the American border enforcement while trying to pursue his passion for dance in America.

Reading about a film touching on topics such as these, it is easy to immediately draw parallels with our own current world, and the political climate in the United States of America right now. Legislation cracking down on immigration, making it harder and harder for anyone not born in the country to find safety and asylum within its borders. But while these parallels are stark, the overall story begins out strong but takes a turn for the worse in the third act.

The film begins with a unique dilemma faced by Jennifer. She is a rich socialite, and works with her family to provide opportunities for immigrants in community centres, including sponsoring a dance school in Mexico City, where she met Fernando. As their relationship grew, both in the past off screen and on screen in their reunion, it is clear this relationship will be frowned upon. By Fernandos family, and because Jennifer originally met him in a mentor and sponsor position. This brings an interesting point of view to the romantic and political aspect of the film, asking what constitutes love when power dynamics are involved, especially when one has entered the country of the other illegally.

But from here there is a downwards spiral, away from the difficult conversations and into harmful stereotypes that end up being reinforced by the end of the film. Stereotypes about the intentions of the rich, and the violence and danger that is often associated by those on the right with immigrants. All of which fully undo the conversations the film was trying to have in the first act, leaving quite a bad taste in my mouth by the time the credits rolled.

On top of these issues I took with the story’s turn in the third act, there is also a stunning lack of fiery passion that seemed to be promised between the two lead. While their performances are ok, their love affair and sweeping romance never comes off as anything other than forced.

Along side this are two performances that, while good, still seem very uninspired. This could be a result of a script that never fully let them explore the emotional nuances that were built into their past, or just a result of the ending feeling like such a sharp turn that nothing was left feeling genuine. Further, while the stakes seemed high for each individual character, the lack of belief I had in the couple really hindered me from ever seeing high stakes for the couple themselves, making many of their moments of conflict hard to believe.

While inspiring to tell the love story between the rich socialite Jennifer and the young ballet dancer from Mexico Fernando, the intentions of Michel Franco’s Dreams were fuzzy throughout. Starting off strong, the film left a bad taste in my mouth, as I struggled to see what message Franco wanted me to leave with, other than harmful stereotypes being reinforced by uninspired performances.

Dreams was screened at the 2025 Melbourne International Film Festival.