NYWIFT Blog

By Tammy Reese

Academy Award–winning actress and producer Jessica Chastain has never shied away from stories that sit in discomfort. In Dreams, opening in theaters February 27, she leans directly into it. Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Michel Franco, the film pairs Chastain with celebrated ballet dancer Isaac Hernández in a tense, intimate drama that interrogates love, power, and the invisible lines that shape our lives.

Chastain stars as Jennifer McCarthy, a wealthy socialite whose relationship with Fernando (Hernández), a gifted dancer from Mexico, becomes increasingly complicated when love collides with borders, privilege, and fear. What begins as a passionate connection slowly exposes the deep fractures created by classism, ageism, language barriers, and immigration policy. All which are themes that feel painfully relevant in today’s political and social climate.

In our conversation, Chastain reflected on working with Hernández. Their on-screen chemistry is layered and intentionally uneasy, mirroring the imbalance of power at the center of the story. Hernández’s background as a world-class dancer adds a physical poetry to the film that contrasts sharply with the emotional restraint demanded by survival.

 

Dreams also marks Chastain’s second collaboration with Franco, a director known for challenging audiences rather than comforting them. The film doesn’t ask viewers to choose sides; it asks them to sit with the consequences of desire shaped by systems larger than any one person. At its core, Dreams is a love story, but not a romanticized one. It’s a reminder that love does not exist in a vacuum, and that privilege often determines who gets to feel safe, who gets to stay, and who must disappear.

Dreams pulls at the heart while holding up a mirror. It’s intimate, unsettling, and deeply human. The kind of film that lingers long after the credits roll. Please enjoy my interview with Academy Award–winning actress and producer Jessica Chastain.

 

(All images courtesy of Cinetic Media)