Dreams

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Dreams

2025

1h 50m

Drama

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Popcornmeter

91%

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43 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, 2025

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, 2025

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, 2025

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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André Didyme-Dôme

Rolling Stone en Español

Oct 2, 2026

Haugerud doesn't offer moral lessons, but rather mirrors. And before them, both his characters and the viewer must learn to read themselves anew. [Full review in Spanish]

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Alejandro Lingenti

La Nación (Argentina)

May 8, 2026

4/5

Haugerud knows how to manage suspense throughout the nearly two-hour narrative. [Full review in Spanish]

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Filipe Freitas

Always Good Movies

Feb 4, 2026

3/5

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

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babarizam D

@RT59932316 Apr 20, 2026

It’s a great film. Talks about the complexity of experiencing new emotions, self doubts. How people around behaves and their fears. Grand mother despite promising she won't tell suddenly starting to feel guilty about it. In a way she was right because she was afraid of this incident but than behavior of mother suddenly from protective to publishing the book. Now she was the agent of qeer rights. I love this complexity , fear, excitement, guilty pleasure. Film doesn’t dive deep in how the story of her affects the teacher. A short scene between mother and teacher seems not enough.

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Jon T

@jon_talbot56 Feb 5, 2026

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, 2025

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, 2025

heartbreak feels good in a place like this.

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Stephen C

@bob25009 Sep 12, 2025

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

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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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