In Dreams (1999)

A suburban housewife learns that she has a dreamworld connection to a serial murderer, and must stop him from killing again.

Director:

Neil Jordan

Writers:

Bari Wood (novel), Bruce Robinson (screenplay)

Stars:

Annette Bening, Robert Downey Jr., Katie Sagona

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Annette Bening	...	Claire Cooper
Katie Sagona	...	Rebecca Cooper
Aidan Quinn	...	Paul Cooper
Robert Downey Jr.	...	Vivian Thompson
Paul Guilfoyle	...	Detective Jack Kay
Kathleen Langlois	...	Snow White
Jennifer Berry	...	Hunter
Emma J. Brown	...	Dwarf
Jennifer Dragon	...	Dwarf
Samantha Kelly	...	Dwarf
Jennifer Caine Natenshon	...	Dwarf
Bethany M. Paquin	...	Dwarf
Erica Sullivan	...	Dwarf
Amelia Claire Novotny	...	Prince
Kristin Sroka	...	Wicked Stepmother

Storyline

The housewife Claire Cooper is married with the pilot Paul Cooper and their little daughter Rebecca is their pride and joy. When a stranger kidnaps a girl, Claire dreams about the man but Detective Jack Kay ignores her concerns. But when Rebecca disappears during a school play, Claire learns that her visions were actually premonitions and she is connected to the killer through her dreams. She has a nervous breakdown and tries to commit suicide. Her psychologist Dr. Silverman sends her to a mental institution and soon she finds that her husband will be the next victim of the serial-killer. Further, the serial-killer was interned in the same cell in the hospital where she is. Will Claire be able to save Paul?

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Plot Keywords:

dream | serial killer | mental institution | school play | two word title | 

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Taglines:

You don't have to sleep to dream

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence/terror and language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 January 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Blue Vision

Filming Locations:

Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,992,449, 17 January 1999

Gross USA:

$12,017,369

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$12,017,369

Company Credits

Production Co:

Amblin Entertainment, DreamWorks

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The mental institution scenes were filmed at the Northampton State Hospital, an actual asylum in Northampton, Massachusetts, which was abandoned at the time.

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Goofs

During sentencing, the judge tells Vivian "the State of Massachusetts has declared you insane," thus making him ineligible for the death penalty. In legal parlance, Massachusetts is always referred to as a Commonwealth, and does not practice the death penalty.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Claire: [Helping daughter rehearse lines from Snow White while walking through trees by lake]
[In sing-song voice]
Claire: Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of us all?
Rebecca Cooper: [Skipping through trees by lake]
[In sing-song voice]
Rebecca Cooper: You're the fairest in this hall but Snow WHITE is THE...
Claire: [laughs] Come on Rebecca, forget it's a play. Just, say it like you're saying it to me.
Rebecca Cooper: [sing-song voice] Snow White's the fairest of them all.
Claire: And again.
[...]

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Connections

References Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

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Soundtracks

IF
Written by David Gates
Performed by Bread
Courtesy of Elektra Entertainment Group
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

*Sigh*

Neal Jordan has a most peculiar ability; he can make films which allow us to realize that he is a good director, without actually being good films. For some reason, he cannot film an ending to a movie and I don't understand why. He tends to deal with stories that have interesting premises, but don't actually go anywhere. I am not really sure why he does this, but he does. Look back at his filmography you will see what I mean. The only two films he made with good endings were The Butcher Boy and The Crying Game (you really can't screw up that ending), but even his best films (like Michael Collins) seem to fall apart as they are getting ready to wrap up. Build up and then disappointment.

Luckily, this is not a problem for In Dreams, which falls apart almost immediately. This film never comes close to generating a truly engrossing story or to establishing characters or situations that are even remotely plausible. I am normally able to suspend a tremendous amount of disbelief, but I just couldn't follow what was going on, or perhaps I was and it just wasn't interesting so I was trying to make up stuff to amuse myself.

I actually did not realize how bad the film actually is until I watched it a second time (being somewhat of a fan of Jordan's I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt). The movie is so scattered (and the end is sooooo lame) that it is impossible to even comment effectively on what the problems of the plot were. This reminded me of another of Jordan's films, A Company of Wolves, which had similar problems, but somehow managed to extricate itself from them at least partially (or perhaps I was more forgiving because of the incredibly low budget of the earlier film). A Company of Wolves was interesting and adult retelling of Little Red RidingHood, which despite its weirdness, managed to hold my interest through most of it.

This was not the case with In Dreams, whose weirdness overwhelmed any chance the film had of credulity. I love weird cinema, but weirdness needs to be used well in order to be effective. In Dreams is too wierd for no good reason and this sinks the plot and made me continue to view it as a movie rather than allow me to become engrossed in its story. Oh well, all that said, I have seen worse films.