‘Le Rêve Et La Radio’ (English Title: The Dream and the Radio) stars the two directors Renaud Després-Larose and Ana Tapia Rousiouk as well as actors Geneviève Ackerman and Étienne Pilon in their feature film, making its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) which takes place from January 26 to February 6, 2022. Their film was successfully picked up and distributed by the Montreal-based company La distribtrice de films, and has been selected as part of the Tiger Competition. The IFFR’s Tiger Competition “celebrates the innovative and adventurous spirit of up-and-coming filmmakers from all over the world.”.
The scene opens up with a series of images in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and a bustling city of “Habs” fans coming out of a Montreal Canadiens game while we hear a monologue narrative from a homeless woman named Beatrice Ackerman (Geneviève Ackerman) wanting to be more poetic in her tragic life and lost childhood. Even though the audience see’s a beautiful city full of life celebrating a victory of a Habs game, Constance would fall asleep in her dreams trying to reflect on the night scene, only to be interrupted with traumatic nightmares of a sign carried by a man written in French, “Let’s find back our tragic conscience” and flashes of emergency personnel on scene with sirens wailing in the background.
She is welcomed to Constance (Ana Tapia Rousiouk) and Eugene’s (Renaud Després-Larose), where we learn that Constance works at a small independent radio station broadcasting her radio creations from a political lens.
The audio and visual cinematography are some of the signature stand-outs of what makes this film unique. Many of the conversations have audio altered to sound more like the audience is listening to a radio wave or a cell phone, much to the liking of the name of the film’s title.
The scenes were shot in various formats from 16:9 widescreen to the classic 4:3 letterbox to emphasize certain feelings of a particular situation. The cameras used were a nice combination of old and modern ones, showing how a grainy cinematography could still create a dramatic effect of a night scene, to an amateur camcorder of an old VHS tape that is being shown from the early 80s/90s, reflecting on past childhood memories for example.
The candlelight conversations between Constance, Beatrice, and Eugene added a very nice touch of intimacy and deep discussions about Constance and Beatrice’s bizarre encounter with a man named Raoul Debord (Étienne Pilon). And by candlelight, the scenes were shot literally in the form of a candle lighting up in front of each individual when it is their turn to speak.
Let’s talk about the encounters with Raoul. His character is shrouded in mystery about who he is and what his purpose is when he first encountered Constance and Beatrice. The difference in the two encounters is that one was at random, and the other was set up. Funny enough, the other was set up as if it was random as Constance sent Beatrice to meet with Raoul. But the whole set up appears to ultimately start with Raoul supposedly dropping his phone on a subway seat for Constance to retrieve it. Sounds confusing right? But an intriguing series of events that adds an element of thriller into the film’s genre.
Without trying to spoil much of the film’s plot, Raoul is centered around as the mystery-man who is set out to create The Great Revolution, and is looking to use Constance and her radio as a means to spread the word while continuing to find more converts. To truly follow the plot, you would have to pay attention to every little detail that is left in each scene to connect the meanings behind each intent of each character’s actions. There’s a lot of deep political and spiritual conversations that may challenge some viewers to interpret the meaning behind some of the things they say and do in the film.
In a way, ‘Le Rêve Et La Radio’ literally takes its title name and carries it out through its story. It is a fever dream, encapsulated by the eccentric cinematography giving it an artistic look and feel of these unconventional personalities to follow their lives. You may have to watch it a couple of times to understand what is going on in this film…or dare I say, you should “listen” to the radio waves and leave yourself to the imagination of what you interpret in this film.