THE STORY – Fernando, a young ballet dancer from Mexico, dreams of international fame and life in the US. Believing that his lover Jennifer, a socialite and philanthropist, will support him, he leaves everything behind and narrowly escapes death while crossing the border. His arrival, however, disrupts Jennifer’s carefully curated world. She will do anything to protect their future together – and the life she has built for herself.
THE CAST – Jessica Chastain, Isaác Hernández, Rupert Friend, Marshall Bell, Eligio Meléndez & Mercedes Hernández
THE TEAM – Michel Franco (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 100 Minutes
Mexican writer-director Miguel Franco reteams with “Memory” (2023) star Jessica Chastain for this scathing erotic drama about power and privilege. Gripping, chilling, and startlingly bleak, it’s one of the best films to have screened in competition at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival.
From the start, Blanco toys with the audience’s assumptions and expectations. The film opens with Fernando (Isaác Hernández), a young Mexican man, crossing the border into America in a truck filled with illegal immigrants. After hitch-hiking to a well-to-do California neighborhood, he enters a luxurious property and collapses, naked, into bed. The next morning, he’s awakened by wealthy socialite Jennifer McCarthy (Chastain), who immediately proceeds to have sex with him, and it’s only then that we realize they have a pre-existing relationship and he’s not a home intruder. It transpires that he’s a talented ballet dancer, and they began an affair when they met in Mexico City through her charitable foundation work. However, Fernando’s sudden appearance in San Francisco doesn’t seem to have been part of Jennifer’s long-term plan, and he becomes increasingly resentful of the way she refuses to acknowledge their relationship in public, let alone introduce him to her brother (Rupert Friend) and father (Marshall Bell), the head of their arts foundation. Jennifer, in turn, becomes irritated when Fernando’s natural talent (and charm) lands him a job with a San Francisco ballet company, and it’s only a matter of time before their twin frustrations come to a head.
On the surface, “Dreams” has parallels with classic erotic thrillers, with Chastain’s powerful and manipulative femme fatale intent on controlling the object of her sexual obsession by any means necessary. However, while the film absolutely works on that level, Franco lends it a thrillingly scabrous socio-political dimension, delivering a devastating critique of the ultra-rich that will leave audiences gasping. To that end, “Dreams” (that title is surely ironic) hits every bit as hard as Franco’s previous picture, “New Order,” which depicted the class struggle so viscerally. The film’s depiction of Jennifer’s hypocrisy and selfishness is every bit as jaw-dropping. Given her position as a respected patron of the arts, the audience fully expects Jennifer to help Fernando achieve his titular dreams. To that end, their relationship initially seems genuinely romantic. Still, it gradually becomes clear that she sees him only as a sex object and doesn’t care about him at all as a person. It’s easy to extrapolate Franco’s underlying attack, pointing out that charitable deeds can disguise terrible people.
Chastain is sensational as Jennifer, simultaneously passionate and fiery in the sex scenes (of which there are several). Still, with a heart that’s cold as ice – when her true nature is revealed, it’s as shocking a twist as ever graced an erotic thriller. Hernández (a successful real-life ballet dancer) is equally brilliant as Fernando, generating palpable sexual chemistry with Chastain, delivering a stunningly physical performance, and exuding a natural likability. There’s also strong support from both Friend (arguably under-used, though he’s great fun in his few scenes) and Bell, who’s perfectly cast as the seemingly benevolent patriarch whose generosity masks something darker.
Throughout the film, Franco proves a master of slow-burning tension, and the action builds inexorably to a stunning climax you won’t soon forget. It’s all the more effective for Franco’s decision to eschew an emotive score and to leave certain things unseen. In short, this is a powerfully intense erotic drama that exposes its central character’s exploitation of both the wealth gap and the age gap to devastating effect. Here’s hoping Chastain’s collaboration with Franco continues because they are doing exceptional work together.
