Dreams

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Dreams

2025

1h 50m

Drama

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Popcornmeter

90%

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41 Reviews

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Johanne's intimate writings about her first love stir friction within her family, prompting her mother and grandmother to reexamine their own realities and dreams. Johanne falls in love for the first time, with her teacher. To preserve her feelings, she documents her emotions and experiences in writing. When her mother and grandmother read what she has written, they are initially shocked by its intimate content but soon see that it has literary potential. As they debate whether to publish it, Johanne navigates the gap between her romantic fantasy and reality, and all three women confront their differing views on love, sexuality, and self-discovery.

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Critics Consensus

Conveying the pangs of first love with deft writing and a tastefully restrained sensuality, Dag Johan Haugerud's Dreams is a winsome character study that gently stirs the heart.

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David Katz

Sight & Sound

Nov 5

Dreams (Sex Love) is an invitation to spend time with and think alongside Haugerud’s liberated characters, and it’s a welcome one, however artificial and unlikely his framing can sometimes feel.

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Wendy Ide

Observer (UK)

Oct 7

Sharply written, insightful and exhilaratingly unexpected, this film is one of the very best of the year so far.

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Simon Abrams

RogerEbert.com

Sep 13

2/4

‘Dreams’ winds up leading viewers to feel both mildly implicated and overwhelmingly frustrated as Johanne’s narrative gradually veers from questions about what really happened to Johanne to why we care in the first place.

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Filipe Freitas

Always Good Movies

Feb 4

3/5

A tender meditation on first love, fantasy, and the gradual process of growing up and moving on.

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Tim Miller

Cape Cod Wave Magazine

Jan 5

4/4

Johanne writes a novella which suggests a passionate romance. Is she merely projecting her desires or reflecting the truth? As we consider this, we also are challenged to consider the role of art, conflicting perceptions of reality, and much more.

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Javier Ocaña

El Pais (Spain)

Nov 21

...a work devoid of any visual capacity or cinematic language, illustrating a saccharine story, explicit to the point of exasperation...[Full review in Spanish]

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Jon T

@jon_talbot56 Feb 5

Bit of a curates egg. Far too much voiceover for its own good, it comes alive when the characters speak especially the grandmother. Some things are hard to take, especially the mothers volte face after reading her daughters manuscript- and the ending which is a bit odd. Still there are some interesting observations about desire and aging. The central relationship between teacher and pupil is hugely cringe. I worked in education and it made me very uncomfortable.

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Runa R

@runa.r Dec 4

I found this second film in the trilogy much more interesting than the first. It kept the pattern of little or no action and plenty of dialogue, and I found it more realistic in terms of social patterns. The adolescent, the grandmother and the mother all showed down-to-earth, common reactions to what happened. I believe all adolescents experience their first crushes on a teacher (male or female), and the film conveys all the pain and beauty of such an episode.

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themanicexec

Sep 27

heartbreak feels good in a place like this.

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Stephen C

@bob25009 Sep 12

Success in 1 hour and 50 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dubbed and subtitled in worldwide studios!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Dag Johan Haugerud

Director

Ella Øverbye

Johanne

Selome Emnetu

Johanna

Anne Marit Jacobsen

Karin, Johannes mormor

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Synopsis

Johanne's intimate writings about her first love stir friction within her family, prompting her mother and grandmother to reexamine their own realities and dreams. Johanne falls in love for the first time, with her teacher. To preserve her feelings, she documents her emotions and experiences in writing. When her mother and grandmother read what she has written, they are initially shocked by its intimate content but soon see that it has literary potential. As they debate whether to publish it, Johanne navigates the gap between her romantic fantasy and reality, and all three women confront their differing views on love, sexuality, and self-discovery.

Director: Dag Johan Haugerud
Producer: Yngve Sæther, Hege Hauff Hvattum
Screenwriter: Dag Johan Haugerud
Distributor: Strand Releasing
Production Co: Motlys
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Norwegian
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 12, 2025, Limited
Runtime: 1h 50m

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