By the end of Dream Scenario I’m not entirely sure what statement about fame and its pitfalls has actually been made, but it’s such a wild and enrapturing journey that it supersedes, even if only to some extent, thematic integrity. It’s just a wonderfully bizarre and original idea executed with such cleverness and deft humour that it leaves you stunned and impressed regardless of the tightness or argument to its meaning and satire. The larger point of the movie isn’t insignificant but there’s something to be said for the strength of the dressing.
It is the third film, and first English-language film, from Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli, produced by Ari Aster in totally unsurprising fashion –though not as surreal or extreme, Dream Scenario works as a kind of companion film to Beau is Afraid. It stars Nicolas Cage as a middle-aged university professor specializing in entomology called Paul Matthews, who has something of a craving for prestige recognition within his field. Suddenly out of nowhere he becomes the subject of a bizarre phenomenon where he starts appearing in thousands of peoples’ dreams –usually just standing around while something dramatic or chaotic is happening. And it turns him into an overnight celebrity, with mixed repercussions for him and his family.
This awkward insecure dork of a comic and then tragic figure is the most entertaining performance Cage has given in several years -what seems like such a strange fit for the guy, but one that he takes to with extraordinary prowess. It’s honestly a fairly measured performance given this weird and wacky premise -the guy has an inferiority complex and is a bit overly concerned with how people perceive him, but he’s otherwise a very convincing upper middle-class everyman thrown against his will into this truly bizarre and ultimately cruel set of circumstances.
The thing that most bothers him and most openly invites consideration from the audience is his very passive role in these dreams -which he seems to take as a reflection on his character: somebody who is just around, never doing anything useful or helpful. The fact that the world ostensibly sees him this way is both a blessing and curse. Borgli seems to consider him in exactly those terms -we don’t learn much about his personality, he seems to have relatively few passions, and has not accomplished a lot in life -something he is only mildly aware of. By his appearance, his academic background, nondescript family life, and the fact he may have a former colleague receiving credit for his research, he’s reminiscent of Walter White at the start of Breaking Bad. And like Walter he’s got a seedier undercurrent to his personality, at least as far as ego is concerned. This comes out especially prominently when the situation, initially fairly pleasant, turns drastic; when on a dime his appearances go from being inert to deeply active and disturbing.
Through the whole ordeal Borgli weaves some very sharp satire on sensationalism in the modern age. As soon as he becomes famous Paul is courted by a millennial-pandering social media PR firm headed by an excellent Michael Cera looking to exploit his celebrity as, among other things, a spokesperson for Sprite -Paul meanwhile is only concerned with taking advantage of his status as much as it supports his own career ambitions. In fact he resents the idea that this dream situation could be the only metric of his notoriety. It’s a funny take on the infrastructure of modern celebrity capitalism, even if its metaphor is a bit flawed. Paul is less a stand-in for an actor or athlete than he is a viral TikTok star, but then there’s a certain implication of consent that goes along with that -which Paul doesn’t have.
It’s even more muddled when it comes to his subsequent dream appearances, the controversy, and his reaction to it. His wish for a more active role in people’s dreams is answered with horrendous connotations, when he all of a sudden becomes a symbol of terror and violence. While there is a subtle indication that this too is some kind of cosmic retribution over a moment where he nearly committed adultery (or else is its own manifestation of his sexual frustrations), the effects are clearly disproportionate and unfair. And it doesn’t take much for the movie to veer into topics of cancel culture in this. It’s a subject that comes with inherent politicization, yet Borgli does not present a consistent statement. He bemoans it as something that publicly alienates and destroys innocent people, even suggests a very “young people are too sensitive these days” take, but then also openly distances Paul from the kind of far-right figures (name-dropping both Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson) who frequently express those very attitudes and want to embrace him over it. Unlike a movie like Tár, which also commented on the public shaming phenomenon, Dream Scenario doesn’t come with the clarity of some wrongdoing -leaving it at best a neutral, not particularly effective parsing of the concept that seems only in use as a topical expression of Paul’s torture, or a simple fundamental dismay over human nature.
There is a certain juvenile cynicism to Borgli’s tone evident especially in the shallow but pretty funny late-film introduction of Dreamfluencers, which combines general Gen-Z stereotypes and the TikTok movement with the concept of dream advertising I first remember as a joke on Futurama. Indeed, the originality to the humour and the ways in which the effects of Paul’s crisis are illustrated overshadows any myopic commentary. And for what authenticity is permitted it is played very well -especially in the relationship between Paul and his wife Janet (Julianne Nicholson). That is essentially the pivotal facet of Paul’s life; the effect that the dream scenario has on her as vivid as it is to him, and unlike him she doesn’t ever endeavour to exploit it. She really is as unassuming as he pretends to be. The ending of the movie is Paul’s atonement for what both he (in his limited capacity) and the situation wrought on her. Which does feel a little at a dissonance from the overhanging priorities of the film, but allows for at least some level of sweetness after so much hammering down on Paul.
Though not as sharp or cohesive as it could be, Dream Scenario is quite a fun watch. The combination of such a wild concept with idiosyncrasy, not to mention the little clips of Paul’s dream appearances themselves -as funny in their violence as in their monotony (and in one case, bizarre eroticism)- is a deft and entertaining recipe, not totally unlike some weird 90s experiment like Being John Malkovich. Borgli is perhaps not such an intuitive filmmaker, but he executes the grander picture well, and indeed some of his satire’s sharpness can withstand a confused thesis. If nothing else it leaves you warmly appreciative of the privacy of dreams.
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