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Four Nights of a Dreamer

Play trailer Poster for Four Nights of a Dreamer In Theaters Fri Sep 5 1h 27m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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89% Tomatometer 9 Reviews 78% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
The rarely screened Four Nights of a Dreamer is Robert Bresson's great forgotten masterpiece, a stark yet haunting ode to romantic idealism and the capriciousness of love. Adapted from Fyodor Dostoevsky's "White Nights," Four Nights follows Jacques (Guillaume des Forêts), a lonely artist who roams bohemian Paris in search of the girl of his dreams. One night he saves a beautiful young woman, Marthe, from plunging into the Seine in despair over her rejection by an avoidant lover (Maurice Monnoyer). Jacques compassionately attempts to reunite Marthe with her beau, but his feelings for his new friend soon become less than platonic and his investment in her personal drama far from selfless. Four Nights of a Dreamer has been called the French master's "loveliest" work: with his signature minimalism, Bresson films the shimmering beauty of nocturnal Paris as it enfolds his characters in endless possibility--subtly capturing the wonder of unexpected connection and the mystery of fate.
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Critics Reviews

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Roger Greenspun New York Times Time and again, it is shockingly beautiful, and I can think of nothing in recent films so ravishing as his strange romantic vision of the city, the river, the softly lighted tourist boats in the night. Rated: 5/5 Apr 8, 2006 Full Review Time Out The film is rescued from occasional moments of pretension by the gentle eroticism and absolute conviction with which it is made. Apr 8, 2006 Full Review Dave Kehr Chicago Reader In the secular turn Bresson reveals an unexpected sense of humor and worldly irony. Apr 8, 2006 Full Review Ted Whitehead The Spectator Where [Dostoevsky] reveals and analyses intensity of perception, Bresson merely suggests it. The parable shrinks into an anecdote, and a pretty boring one at that. Aug 3, 2015 Full Review Doug Cummings L.A. Weekly It's an affectionate tribute to the beauty of Parisian youth with a keen eye for the friction caused when whimsical idealism meets the messy demands of interpersonal reality. Mar 5, 2013 Full Review Tim Brayton Antagony & Ecstasy Gone is the blistering, fatalistic Catholicism for which Bresson is famous, to be replaced with an unusual sort of humanism that is cynical but quirky, detached but sincere. Rated: 8/10 Feb 5, 2012 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member I've seen 'Two Lovers' and Visconti's 'White Nights', now this. In my view, only the last could be described as 'mannered'. Perhaps, because Jacques is a painter there is a tendency to carry artistic discipline into this affair of the heart. There is a strict control containing the emotional experience; perhaps this is why one critic suggest some happiness in the ending which presents the experience as a gift to art. Parisian street romance and romantic music seem to belong to a shadowy world the artist is not really at home in. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member My third or forth Bresson flick. Another Fyodor Dostoevsky adaptation where a girl is about to commit suicide after some relationship issues. Some dude, "The Dreamer", rescues her in a way, and wants to see her again. He's a painter, that's not up to much use, really. They meet again the same place the next day, at the bridge. Her man is about to go away for a while, she cannot go with him, so she turns sad, but finds some joy in chats with The Dreamer. When her guy, quite unexpectedly comes back, the question is who she will follow. Her man, or her new flame? A slow film, that never really grips me. It's got a similiar style as "Une femme douce" and I find them pretty equal, also when it comes to my likings. OK plus, but not mindblowing. A bit to slow and lacking of the really big scenes for that. I also miss some more knowledge of the characters. They talk, but nothing much comes out of it for me. Possibly it's done on purpose as this film tries to be casual about rather normal situations. 5.5 out of 10 tape recorders. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Audience Member Dostoevsky's White Nights transferred to Paris by Robert Bresson; the dreamy cinematography supplements the minimalist approach to the material. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member Bresson's overlooked adaptation of Dostoyevsky's White Nights, A bit more accessible than his other works that I've seen, Has some interesting moments but overall I have mixed feelings, It may a need a rewatch Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Not his best or most interesting work, but it's very much worth your time, if only for the musical interlude involving a band on a boat passing under a bridge. Except for the dubbed Italian version (which also cuts out an extensive nude scene), this film has never been issued on home video, but an excellent 35mm print was struck and circulated for Bresson's centennial so if you live close to a good repertory theater, you may be able to catch it. The film's most notable for its sensuality, romanticism and humor, something Bresson has rarely shown since his earliest work. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member There are parodic elements to the film, but it rivals BRIEF ENCOUNTER as a romantic film about all too short bonds. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Four Nights of a Dreamer

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Movie Info

Synopsis The rarely screened Four Nights of a Dreamer is Robert Bresson's great forgotten masterpiece, a stark yet haunting ode to romantic idealism and the capriciousness of love. Adapted from Fyodor Dostoevsky's "White Nights," Four Nights follows Jacques (Guillaume des Forêts), a lonely artist who roams bohemian Paris in search of the girl of his dreams. One night he saves a beautiful young woman, Marthe, from plunging into the Seine in despair over her rejection by an avoidant lover (Maurice Monnoyer). Jacques compassionately attempts to reunite Marthe with her beau, but his feelings for his new friend soon become less than platonic and his investment in her personal drama far from selfless. Four Nights of a Dreamer has been called the French master's "loveliest" work: with his signature minimalism, Bresson films the shimmering beauty of nocturnal Paris as it enfolds his characters in endless possibility--subtly capturing the wonder of unexpected connection and the mystery of fate.
Director
Robert Bresson
Producer
Gian Vittorio Baldi
Screenwriter
Robert Bresson
Distributor
New Yorker Films
Production Co
Albina Productions S.a.r.l. [fr], Victoria Films, La
Genre
Drama
Original Language
French (France)
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 22, 1972, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters)
Sep 5, 2025
Runtime
1h 27m