Romantic films about marriage are nothing new, and the word “drama” often evokes interesting and humorous romantic plots in people’s minds. However, the relaxed and funny scenes are not very common in it. Instead, it tends to narrate the hypocrisy and complexity and sharp social values existing in social relationships.
The Dream (2026) was released in April this year and grossed nearly 60 million dollars worldwide within a week. Actually, this is a relatively successful movie box office figure, suggesting a strong audience curiosity around its themes. Part of the film’s appeal clearly comes from its stars, Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, who play a couple whose relationship is full of intimacy and sexual tension. In “The Drama”, this engaged- couple experience a crisis of trust, suspicion and intense emotional collapse during the planning stage of their wedding preparations, after a game called “What was the worst thing you’ve ever done?” Thus, beyond its recognisable faces, this film more appeal to evoke a certain degree of empathy in people, and even prompt some deep reflection.
The film’s strongest elements are its morally unstable characters and its unsettling plot turns.
The film mainly follows the entire process of Charlie writing his wedding speech, so the camera focuses more on Charlie’s inner journey. Charlie, who is presented as a sensitive, self-conscious artist, is one of the key figures who drove the plot towards an absurd direction.
At the beginning, Charlie falsely claimed that he liked the book which Emma was reading. In fact, he had just searched the brief introduction from Google and hit on Emma. Then they fell in love.
Charlie seems to be a perfectionist. He demands perfection in many things, such as the five-times-repeated oath modification scene in the film, the perfect requirement of that “performative” wedding dance he asked Emma to do, and even for the imperfect partner— Emma. This was one of the reasons why Charlie felt anxious and nervous about the relationship which was initially supposed to be a perfect and intimate after that “true mind talk” night.
“I’m going to get it perfect. I swear to God.”
from Carlie
Then the movie reached its most crucial turning point. “What was the worst thing you have ever done?” Emma reveals that she almost caused a school shooting when she was fifteen. When everyone suspected that Emma was a potential criminal, all the fairy-tale-like love and passionate intimacy that had occurred turned into a blurry and wavering nightmare.
Each character is deliberately positioned in a morally ambiguious space, never fully innocent yet never reduced to a single label.
Apart from “Emma”, all the other main actors were equally concerned about surface work. Mike kept speculating about the DJ of the wedding who is creakhead, and constantly attaching new negative labels to her, and instead, Rachel is the most hypocritical person. who became increasingly harsh towards Emma because her relative had been permanently confined to a wheelchair also due to a school shooting.
Although DJ claimed that she had not taken heroin, and Emma joined the “no more guns” campaign and throw away the gun and recordings, while Charlie almost had a sexual relationship with the female staff, simply because of a breakdown in his emotions a day before the wedding.
Therefore, I believe that shaping the character image through external perception and labels is the most outstanding aspect of the entire film.
The film’s impact is strengthened by Borgli’s visual and editorial style.
Director Borgli’s editing style is very innovative, which is one of the film’s most distinctive strengths. The flashbacks of Emma’s childhood memories and the rapid-cutting scenes in real life interweave with each other, but the storyline is still sufficiently coherent.
The way the story unfolds completely overturns the rules we are accustomed to, causing life to develop in an absurd and ironic direction. Borgli’s arrangement not only surprises the audience but also makes them feel nervous, embarrassed and amused. This is also the charm of black humor.
Even the details of the film complement each other perfectly. Rough camera pixelation, dim and low-saturation lighting and filters. Everything effectively emphasizes the anxious and depressing atmosphere in the film.
The music and background sounds that enhance the atmosphere are truly the highlights of the film. The discordant woodwind instruments give the close-up shots an eerie sense of unease and terror. It not only clashes with the gentle and nostalgic folk music at the beginning of the film, but also blends with the aggressive and tense music at the end of the film.
Perhaps the best thing about this film is that it allows the audience to imagine that one of their friends once had the idea of committing murder.
What would you do in that situation? Would you distance yourself from them immediately, or try to understand the fear, confusion and damage behind that thought?
When the movie ends, you may have a new answer.
Shoujie Wang 
Yinan Zhou 
SUN Yinchen