Stunning July Blockbuster Leaves Audiences Speechless, Earns 4/5 Stars!

Described as “stunning” and “a breathtaking achievement that leaves you speechless“, Oslo Trilogy – Dreams premiered in theaters on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, and has been rated as the top movie of July by AlloCiné viewers.

With 426 ratings and 40 reviews, the feature film has achieved an average rating of 4 stars at the time of writing*. It surpasses another installment of this trilogy, titled Love (4 / 5, 319 ratings and 33 reviews)*, Laughter and the Knife (4 / 5, 168 ratings and 34 reviews)*, and the animated film Falcon Express (4 / 5, 187 ratings and 46 reviews)*.

Dreams was awarded the highest honor at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival, by a jury chaired by Todd Haynes. It is the first part of a trilogy with the other installments, Love and Desire, released on July 9 and July 16, 2025, respectively. It’s noteworthy that these are three distinct stories, which can be viewed in any order.

In his director’s statement, filmmaker and screenwriter Dag Johan Haugerud explains: “First love is perplexing because mental desire and physical desire might not unfold at the same pace. Even though falling in love might seem like an overwhelming force, Johanne might not be physically able to handle such intense emotions. Hence, the gap between mental conception and physical experience appears traumatic to her.”

The film also explores the possibilities of unrequited or secretly held infatuations. How do we internalize this? How do we live with it? And how do we express it, or not? Here, the protagonist chooses to write her story, leading to various twists and turns.

“Rarely has cinema captured with such precision what develops between what we say, what we keep silent, and what we imagine“

Viewers who shared their opinions on AlloCiné appreciated the refined script of the film, which they found enthralling. The accuracy and sensitivity in depicting the first stirrings of love are emphasized.

“Desire flows through the words, and it’s their power, more than the body, that creates the disturbance. Haugerud conducts dialogues with lethal precision, where language reveals less than it agitates. Behind the apparent banality of situations, a muted tension emerges, that of an enlightened but unarmed youth, confronting its own fantasies. Rarely has cinema captured with such precision what develops between what we say, what we keep silent, and what we imagine“, says AlexCiné (3.5 / 5).

According to capirex, “A brilliant reflection on the weight and significance of memories narrated in voiceover by young Johanne, 17, as she confronts her first romantic feelings, and what she considers her first love story! Each monologue or dialogue by the protagonist, Johanne, seems extremely accurate, and anyone who has experienced a first love will likely recognize elements they’ve lived or felt. I hope the next two are just as good” (4 / 5).

“A feat that leaves you speechless”

According to Martial Bonkoungou, “the emergence of desire [is a] topic explored time and again. Yet, the director achieves a feat that leaves you speechless. First, his narration: stunning. A portrayal illustrated with precise words without ever overdoing it. Indeed, these words are the second pillar of this film. They touch us by their simplicity, this way of making us feel the moment as if we were experiencing these emotions in real-time. The sheer purity of romantic love” (5 / 5).

Find all viewer reviews on AlloCiné

Released on July 2, Dreams (Oslo Trilogy) is currently in theaters.

* Ratings as of July 30, 2025