Four Nights of a Dreamer
UW Cinematheque 821 University Ave., UW Vilas Hall, Room 4070, Madison, Wisconsin
media release: France | 1971 | DCP | 82 min. | French with English subtitles
Director: Robert Bresson
Cast: Guillaume des Forêts, Isabelle Weingarten, Maurice Monnoyer
Set within a bohemian world in contemporary Paris, Four Nights of a Dreamer follows Jacques, a lonely artist searching for the girl of his dreams. One night he saves the beautiful Marthe from plunging into the Seine in despair over her rejection by an avoidant lover. Jacques compassionately attempts to reunite the young woman with her beau, but his feelings for Marthe soon become less than platonic. Bresson’s previously hard-to-see version of Dostoevsky’s White Nights is told in his inimitable minimalist style, yielding surprisingly romantic and emotional results. Plus, Paris was never more beautifully photographed at night. A recent 4K restoration will be screened.
Admission is free, seating limited. No admission 15 minutes after scheduled start times.
Three White Nights
In October at the Cinematheque, three master filmmakers utilize Fyodor Dostoevsky’s enduring short story White Nights to discover new, different, and personal visions within its tale of lonely hearts, chance encounters, and impossible love. From Luchino Visconti’s luminous dreamscape of postwar longing Le notti bianche, to Robert Bresson’s quietly transcendent Parisian reverie Four Nights of a Dreamer, to James Gray’s deeply felt contemporary Brooklyn reimagining Two Lovers, each film reflects the anxieties and romantic ideals of its own time while remaining faithful to Dostoevsky’s profound understanding of desire, memory, and human connection.
