(Drømmer)

17-year-old student Johanne (Ella Øverbye) is in love with her teacher, also called Johanna (though spelled differently), a charismatic, bohemian young woman. Johanne documents the intense swirl of emotions in a confessional manuscript; when her mother and grandmother read what she has written, they are initially shocked by the intimacy of Johanne’s writing but are captivated by the literary flair of her words. amid discussions of publishing, each woman confronts her own unfulfilled dreams and emotional silences. Johanne’s grandmother, Karin (Anne Marit Jacobsen), a once celebrated poet in creative decline, wrestles with pride and envy as Johanne’s burgeoning talent threatens to eclipse her own. Dreams, winner of the Golden Bear for Best Film at this year’s Berlinale Film Festival, is a poetic, multigenerational meditation on first love, memory, and authorship.

Notes by David O’Mahony.

See also the other films in the Oslo Stories Trilogy, Sex and Love.