A loose adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's short story "White Nights," the film tells the story of a down-on-his-luck artist (des Forêts) who attempts to prevent a heartbroken woman (Weingarten) from committing suicide by spending four consecutive evenings with her on the streets of Paris.
During an evening stroll in Paris, Jacques sees a woman named Marthe pondering suicide while sitting on the edge of the Pont Neuf.
Although Jacques is an alumnus of an elite École des Beaux-Arts, he lives alone in a desolate little flat that doubles as his studio.
He uses a tape recorder to tell fanciful love stories, which he plays back to inspire his artistic process.
In retaliation, the tenant gives Marthe free tickets to a low-quality Hollywood-style action movie.
Marthe tells Jacques that she is contemplating suicide because her lover returned to Paris three days ago and has made no attempt to contact her.
One night, Jacques and Marthe share an emotionally intimate moment watching a Brazilian band entertaining customers on the Bateaux Mouches.
His tape-recorded messages shift from abstract love stories to his interest in Marthe, and grow increasingly erotic in nature.
[4][3] Other temporarily "amateur" actors who parlayed Bresson debuts into full-time film careers include Claude Laydu (Diary of a Country Priest), Martin LaSalle (Pickpocket), Marika Green (Pickpocket), Anne Wiazemsky (Au hasard Balthazar), and Dominique Sanda (Une femme douce).
[5][6] Denis' time on set reportedly led to her first paying job in the film industry, serving as second assistant director on Dušan Makavejev's Sweet Movie.
[7] Rosenbaum admitted that he was somewhat confused by Bresson's directorial style, explaining that "he seemed more isolated from his crew than any other filmmaker I’ve seen at work; his widow and onetime assistant director, Mylene van der Mersch, often conveyed his instructions.
I can think of nothing in recent films so ravishing as his strange romantic vision of the city, the river, the softly lighted tourist boats in the night.
"[11] The Chicago Reader's Dave Kehr called the film "very beautiful and essential," writing that "the transformation of Paris at night into a dream landscape pulsing with electric mystery is reminiscent of [Vincente] Minnelli, although the economy of expression is clearly Bresson’s.
"[1] Paul Schrader introduced the re-release at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, explaining that Four Nights of a Dreamer exemplifies Bresson's shift from "the filmmaker of the lonely man" to a director who also told interesting stories about women.
It deviates from the traditional Bresson framework of "characters attaining beatific grace through suffering,"[11] and its emotional tenderness and sensuality represent "a break from the darkening mood of Bresson's previous work, before [his] last three films' respective descents into Hell.
"[19] Dave Kehr also noted that unlike several better-known Bresson films, Four Nights of a Dreamer contains no religious content.
[1] Four Nights of a Dreamer is notoriously difficult to view outside of the film festival and revival circuits.
"[20] Turner Classic Movies' Jeff Stafford wrote that the film is "difficult to see in any format.
[22] Janus Films (which operates The Criterion Collection) secured the rights to distribute the restoration in the United States.