When Jan, the owner of an Indonesian sugar plantation, dies suddenly, he leaves everything to his young illegitimate son that he had with his housekeeper. His widow and his adult son, traveling from the Netherlands with his pregnant wife to settle his father's estate, have nothing to lose as they try to save their crumbling fortune.
Set in the era of dying colonialism in the Dutch East Indies, Sweet Dreams is anything but–rebellion is at hand, the decay of aristocracy is palpable, and madness is an ember that threatens to burn the whole thing down. Ena Sendijarevic paints a visually stunning road-to-ruin fairy tale that is at once a comedy of manners and devastating look at colonialism. Netherlands’ official entry for this year’s Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.
“Sweet Dreams is gorgeously shot, masterfully composed and tightly framed within an Academy aspect ratio, its stylised storytelling never ceasing to captivate.” –Marina Ashioti, Little White Lies