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But it is also earning some sharp criticisms from critics, especially in the religious press. Christians are especially troubled by the explicit sexual material that earned the film a NC-17, the first film to open across the country with that rating since 1995.

The story is based on the novel Holy Innocents, set in 1968 Paris, during the Marxist riots. An American movie buff named Matthew moves in with a brother and sister: two French film enthusiasts, Isabelle (Eva Green) and Theo (Louis Garrel). As the political tension rises outside, the sexual tensions rise indoors. When Matthew discovers rather incestuous behavior, he's upset, but soon he's joining the sexually reckless siblings in heated political debate, heated discussions of cinema, and behavior that is heated beyond the bounds of propriety.

David DiCerto (Catholic News Service) says, "At 63, Bertolucci has the desperation of an aging demagogue still hawking his moth-eaten gospel of free love—a libertinism as morally empty today as it was back in 1968. Many of the sequences play like love poems to the filmmakers who influenced him, most notably Goddard and Truffaut. However, The Dreamers collapses under the weight of its inflated sense of self-importance." He cautions viewers about the film's "exploitative eroticism."

Tom Snyder (Movieguide) writes, "Bertolucci's movie not only captures the political, sexual rebellion of the times, it also captures the love of cinema of film buffs living in Paris from the 1950s to the early 1970s. Some of these film buffs went on to become important filmmakers in their own right. Regrettably … [the film] is filled with explicit sexual content, incest, graphic nudity, harsh obscenities, and denials of God's existence."

Mainstream critics are divided over the film, but most see it as one of Bertolucci's lesser works.

More thoughts on You Got Served and Lost in Translation

This week, Bob Waliszewski (Plugged In) looks at the recent box office hit about breakdancing, You Got Served. "In all fairness," he writes, "the dancing is tight, choreographed superbly … if not always tastefully. You Got Served dances way out-of-bounds when it gives the impression that dealing drugs and gambling are sometimes necessary alternatives for raising capital. That and the fact that the entire climax celebrates a fool's gold prize is plenty of reason for moviegoers to waltz away from this one."

Elsewhere, Dick Staub (CultureWatch) caught up with the Sofia Coppola's Oscar-nominated Lost in Translation and calls it "a visual and verbal exploration of the agonizing disconnect and isolation that characterizes human experience. Everything in this move underscores the pain of human isolation from self, others and place. It is a brilliant expose and exploration of the human dilemma with sweet relief offered by the 'misery loves company' serendipitous friendship forged by Bob and Charlotte."

Next week: 50 First Dates and more.

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February (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48