Synopsis
Not long after they cross paths at an art gallery, architect Ray Reardon and hypnotically sensual Lena are married with children. But as strange incidents occur, Ray begins to realize he may not really know the woman he married.
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Cast
- James SpaderRay Reardon
- Mädchen AmickLena Mathers
- Fredric LehneLarry
- Bess ArmstrongElaine
- Larry MillerNorman
- Kathleen YorkMartha
- Kate WilliamsonMrs. Sneeder
- Tom LillardHank Sneeder
- William ShockleyBuddy
- Carl SundstromOfficer
Recommendations
- 80
The New York Times
The whole film has the intensity of a dream, and Mr. Kazan selects his fantasy elements with great care. - 80
Los Angeles Times
It’s a tricky, harrowing little film. Kazan keeps things fairly schematic--every plot point is secured, every look is “knowing"--but the overall effect is ambiguously unsettling. - 80
TV Guide Magazine
Kazan is particularly good at balancing the incongruously sunny surface of the Reardons' privileged lives and the growing sense of darkness seeping out from every unsealed corner of what is apparently a picture-book existence. - 75
Chicago Sun-Times
As for Madchen Amick, a stunning beauty with an edgy intelligence, Kazan has given her a role that grows more interesting as it deepens. - 67
Entertainment Weekly
Possibly the greatest anti-date video ever...Writer-director Nicholas Kazan was obviously too enamored of his final twist to clean up all the loose ends and red herrings, but the acting has enough verve to put this sour valentine over but good. - 63
Chicago Tribune
Kazan does have his father's fierce erotic curiosity, that sense that once you unravel a story's real lusts and greeds, you've solved it. - 63
ReelViews
Dream Lover is a classic example of a movie setting up its viewers. Half the fun lies in recognizing that at the end. Artsy dream interludes and some rather silly dialogue mar the production, but these things fade into near-obscurity in the face of the climax. Dream Lover will never be considered a classic, nor even a particularly memorable example of its genre, but that won't stop those who watch it from enjoying themselves -- even if that means playing into writer/director Nicholas Kazan's hands. - 50
Variety
An overly abstract mystery about the difficulty of really knowing another person, "Dream Lover" is too rarefied for a popular thriller and too hokey for an art film. Directorial debut of notable screenwriter Nicholas Kazan displays more of an awareness of film's visual possibilities than a flair for them, and while there are any number of interesting ideas bouncing around here, pic falls between stools both artistically and commercially.
