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nudity, commodified on to celluloid. Again, the shot is anything but 'neutral', its tangible
voyeurism making viewers into accomplices in Matthew's ordeal, and inducing an affective
response which may switch from arousal to unease as a result of the shot's increasing
gratuitousness.
The sexual exploration in the secluded apartment represents a self-referential element,
evoking Paul and Jeanne's situation in Last Tango in Paris and that of Kit and the Tuareg
Mustafa in Tire Sheltering Sky. These analogies, founded on Bertolucci's depiction of
passionate, profound sexual fulfilment, are continually linked to seclusion, a suspension of
time, and detachment from everyday life. This condition finds theoretical corroboration in
Sasha Weitman's analysis of erotic sexuality in everyday life, which is 'constituted as a
separate, distinct reality', a phenomenon which is 'largely a social construction' in terms of
being deliberately set apart in time, segregated in space, somewhat staged with drawn
curtains, dimmed lights and sexy clothes, and sometimes 'aided by the intake of mood-
altering substances" (Weitman, 1999: 74-75). The narrative shift from external event towards
internal intimacy in The Dreamers certainly depicts a reality separated from everyday life,
and presents the elements listed by Weitman. The sense of clock time dissolves at the twins'
parents' departure, and this removes any familial/societal obligation for the trio. The mute
television images of the political conflict outside merely increase the impression of
remoteness. The film's pace slows, the dialogue becoming totally self-referential to the trio's
intimate experiences in the apartment where they seclude themselves. Striking costumes and
decor are designed to enhance their sexual arousal, whereas stylized red and green filtered
lighting hints at an altered, desire-driven state of consciousness.
This detachment from the street confrontations redirects the modal quality of the
film's reception, as it transforms the tense - in terms of telic action - into the intense, by
replacing the social body with the erotic body. This might be read as the director's personal
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