Drømmer / Dreams

 

Dag Johan Haugerud: Drømmer / Dreams (NO 2024)

NORJA/NORWAY 2024

OHJAUS/DIRECTOR: DAG JOHAN HAUGERUD 

Sex Dreams Love Trilogy

KÄSIKIRJOITUS/SCREENPLAY: Dag Johan Haugerud • KUVAUS/CINEMATOGRAPHY: Cecilie Semec • LEIKKAUS/EDITING: Jens Christian Fodstad • PUVUSTUS/COSTUMES: Ida Toft • ÄÄNI/SOUND: Yvonne Stenberg, Gisle Tveito • MUSIIKKI/ MUSIC: Anna Berg • NÄYTTELIJÄT/CAST: Ella Øverbye, Selome Emnetu, Ane Dahl Torp, Anne Marit Jacobsen, Andrine Sæther • TUOTANTO/PRODUCTION: Motlys • TUOTTAJAT/PRODUCERS: Hege Hauff Hvattum • ESITYSKOPIO/PRINT SOURCE: NFI • ESITYSFORMAATTI/FORMAT: DCP • KIELI/LANGUAGE: norja/Norwegian • TEKSTITYS/SUBTITLES: englanti/English • KESTO/DURATION: 110 min

Sodankylän elokuvajuhlat / Midnight Sun Film Festival (MSFF) 2025

Viewed at Iso Teltta / The Big Top, 12 June 2025

Otto Kylmälä (MSFF 2025): "Berliinin elokuvajuhlien pääpalkinnon voittanut Dreams kertoo 17-vuotiaasta Johannesta, joka prosessoi rakastumistaan opettajaansa kirjoittamalla tuntemuksistaan sensuellin tekstin. Vuosi ihastumisen jälkeen Johanne jakaa tekstin äitinsä ja isoäitinsä kanssa, jotka reagoivat täysin eri tavoin. Äiti miettii, aloittaako kouluun ja opettajaan kohdistuvan tutkinnan, kun taas runoilijaisoäiti tunnistaa tekstissä kirjallisen lahjakkuuden."

"Käsikirjoittaja-ohjaaja Dag Johan Haugerud rakentaa elokuvan pitkälti Johannen tekstin ja äänen varaan, jolloin intiimin henkilökohtainen kokemus avautuu katsojalle tunteikkaana ensirakkauden kuvauksena. Katseet, kosketukset ja arkiset hetket saavat elämää suuremman merkityksen, kun ne nähdään katkeransuloisen rakkauden lävistäminä. Elokuva kuvaa ihastumiseen liittyvää haaveilua, joka voi tuntua todelta, kunnes arkitodellisuus muuttaa kaiken."

"Eräät ovat hakeneet vertailukohtaa Lukas Moodyssonin Fucking Åmålin nuoren rakkauden kuvauksesta, mutta Haugerudin elokuvan vertailu muihin tuntuu turhalta. Trilogian kaikki osat käsittelevät teemoja tavalla, joka poikkeaa virkistävästi romanttisen komedian kaavamaisista konventioista. Tulevaisuudessa muita elokuvia tullaan vertaamaan Haugerudiin." (OK)

"Winner of the main prize at the Berlin Film Festival, Dreams tells the story of 17-year-old Johanne, who comes to terms with her love for her teacher by writing a sensual text about her feelings. A year after her infatuation, Johanne shares the text with her mother and grandmother, who react in very different ways. The mother wonders whether to launch an investigation into the school and the teacher, while the poet-grandmother recognises the literary talent in the text."

"Writer-director Dag Johan Haugerud builds the film largely around Johanne’s text and voice, allowing the intimate personal experience to unfold as an emotional portrayal of first love. Glances, touches and everyday moments take on a larger-than-life meaning when seen through bittersweet love. The film depicts the dream of infatuation that can seem real until everyday reality changes everything."

"Some have looked to Lukas Moodysson’s depiction of young love in Show Me Love for comparison, but comparing Haugerud’s film to others seems pointless. Each part of the trilogy deals with themes in a refreshing departure from the formulaic conventions of romantic comedy. In the future, other films will be compared to Haugerud’s." (OK)

AA: Dreams is the second film I have seen from Dag Johan Haugerud's Sex Dreams Love trilogy. Last year I was impressed by Haugerud's morning discussion in Sodankylä and his movie Sex (NO 2024) caught at Love & Anarchy: Helsinki International Film Festival. Haugerud turned out to be a revelation in the cinema of conversation, like Éric Rohmer and Louis Malle. Superb actors and fine dialogue can get you anywhere in the guidance of a director like Haugerud.

Like Sex, Dreams takes us to the queer zone. It also belongs to the contemporary trend of films that deal with inflammatory situations at school. The starting point may seem familiar, but Haugerud rejects safe solutions and interpretations.

Even more than a conversation film, Dreams is a monologue. It is a speech-driven Bildungsroman of a 17-year-old girl going through an affair of unrequited love and getting an unexpected start to a possible career as a writer. Grandmother and mother fail to help. They only get confused themselves.

Dreams is a tale of transference, and the question is whether it is also a tale of a seduction. There are subtle clues when Johanne discovers a predecessor to her predicament, both now considering psychiatric help.

This is a serious affair, dealing with the deepest core questions of a young person's identity. But Haugerud knows how to develop the gravity of the matter with a healthy dose of humour. 

Dreams is a saga of secrets and lies, and a pursuit of truth and honesty.

While the movie is speech-driven, it is also based on strong visual concepts. Views of the new urban architecture of Oslo alternate with scenes of forest walks as the protagonists seek clarity to their dilemma in the darkness of the forest. 

The vertical dimension is prominent for instance in powerful images of "Jacob's Ladder". The question of religion / the spiritual dimension lurks not far beyond the surface. 

An obvious but beautiful symbol is the unfurling of a jasmine flower in a transparent teapot. The protagonists are not squeamish about anything, yet clueless in front of the mystery of a first love. Is it imagined or real? Your guess is as good as mine. My guess: it is real enough for Johanne, her first love and first pain. For her teacher, it is about warm and tender friendship between women without a sexual dimension.