Dreams (Sex Love)

Director: Dag Johan Haugerud
Script: Dag Johan Haugerud
Cinematography: Cecilie Semec
Editing: Jens Christian Fodstad
Music: Anna Berg
Producers: Hege Hauff Hvattum, Yngve Sæther
Cast: Ella Øverbye, Selome Emnetu, Ane Dahl Torp

Norway 2024
110′

language: norwegian
subtitles: polish — english

The winner of the latest Berlinale, a warm and delicate film about first love that can also cause pain, like a prick from a crochet hook, is as tender as a mohair jumper. The protagonist of Haugerud’s story is 17-year-old Johanne (Ella Øverbye), who is smitten with her teacher. Through the pupil’s gaze, Johanna (Selome Emnetu) is stunningly beautiful, intelligent, sensual – and splendidly dressed in soft, hand-knitted garments that gently embrace the body. And it’s precisely in handicraft tutorials that Johanne sees her chance. An accelerated education in the school of emotions results in homework she sets herself: Johanne creates a passionate, shameless chronicle of love and desire. How much truth is there in these writings, and how much youthful fantasy? Rohmer-esque in spirit, Dreams (Sex Love) is both shamelessly romantic and perceptive in its portrayal of contemporary discourse on love. Haugerud’s film is also an intergenerational conversation about feelings, desires, missed opportunities, feminist trail-blazing, and a rare portrayal in arthouse cinema of a family that protects and supports.