The Good Night

Colour, 35 mm
USA, United Kingdom, 2007, 90 min
IP – International premiere
Section: Official Selection - Competition

Synopsis

The once reasonably popular singer Gary (Martin Freeman, familiar from the films Confetti or Love Actually) now makes a living writing commercial jingles. He’s on the verge of a mid-life crisis and his relationship with the eternally dissatisfied intellectual Dora (Gwyneth Paltrow) is on the dull side. His life takes a dramatic turn when he meets the kind of girl every man dreams about. But that’s his problem: the stunningly beautiful Anna (Penelope Cruz) only appears to him when he’s asleep. He soon forms a relationship with this perfect dream-woman, and his days are spent in mere preparation for his fantastic nocturnal encounters. In order to step up their intensity, exhausted but happy Gary seeks out oddball Mel (Danny DeVito), an expert in lucid dreaming, who initiates him into the rules of an exciting but dangerous game. An enchanting comedy about what happens when you meet the embodiment of perfection; after ninety minutes in this dream world, you won’t want to get out of your seat.

About the director

Jake Paltrow (b. 1975, Los Angeles) began working in film as a set production assistant on the television series Homicide: Life on the Street and on Paul Thomas Anderson’s debut Sydney / Hard Eight. In 1996 the Sundance festival screened his short debut An Eviction Notice, which he also wrote. He filmed several episodes of the popular TV series NYPD Blue. Paltrow also wrote the original screenplay for The Modern Machine and the screen adaptations of the novels Survivor and The Secret History. The Good Night, his first feature film, was shown to critical acclaim at this year’s Sundance festival.