In Dreams
In Dreams (1999) is a supernatural drama about a clairvoyant woman's connection to a serial killer of children.
It was directed by Neil Jordan, who rewrote the screenplay by Bruce Robinson, and is credited as being based upon the novel Doll's Eyes by Bari Wood, although the movie's connection to the book is tenuous at best. See the notes below for more detail.
Cast
Main characters:
- Annette Bening as Claire Cooper
- Katie Sagona as Rebecca Cooper
- Aidan Quinn as Paul Cooper
- Robert Downey Jr. as Vivian Thompson
- Paul Guilfoyle as Detective Jack Kay
And in small roles acting in the play within the movie:
- Kathleen Langlois as Snow White
- Jennifer Berry as the Hunter
- Amelia Claire Novotny as the Prince
- Kristin Sroka as the Wicked Stepmother
- Emma J. Brown, Jennifer Dragon, Samantha Kelly, Jennifer Caine Natenshon, Bethany M. Paquin and Erica Sullivan as Dwarfs
(I thought it worth mentioning that all the characters from Snow White were played by little girls. --Ide Cyan)
None of the characters in the movie share the names of those from the novel, or have much in common with them, except that there's a clairvoyant woman, a serial killer, and a detective. Claire Cooper = Eve Tilden Klein. Paul Cooper = Sam Klein. Vivian Thompson = Adam Fuller. Det. Jack Kay = Lt. Dave Latovsky.
Summary
A children's author and illustrator named Claire Cooper, who is married and has a young daughter, begins to have visions of a serial killer of children, who later abducts and kills her own daughter. Nobody believes her, though, and she goes insane because of the visions, but in spite of that she uses them to track down and confront the killer.
Production issues and distance from the novel
Bruce Robinson has said of In Dreams that "It was a complete and utter mess from top to bottom. I thought Jennifer Eight was a low point, but Christ almighty, this hit the floor and dug." [1]
Notes, themes, etc.
Claire Cooper is driven mad/institutionalised by/because of her visions, which no-one believes (see: Cassandra). This is very much unlike in the book, where Eve is believed by the police officer in charge of the serial killer investigation, Lt. Latovsky, and by pretty much everyone who knows her. Eve's situation is the opposite of Claire's: it is because she tells the truth, and because people believe her, that they are scared of her and threatened by her company.
Vivian Cooper, the androgynous serial killer played by Robert Downey, Jr., conjures the clichés of the evil homosexual, of effeminate males as evil.
The children in the film put on a play based on the fairy tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Neil Jordan's previous works as a director include a 1984 adaptation of Angela Carter's Little Red Riding Hood retellings, The Company of Wolves.
External Links
- ↑ Review of Smoking in Bed: Conversations with Bruce Robinson, at The Guardian, November 25, 2000
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