Dream Images in the Movie Paprika
Anime Fantasy Sequences Explode With Color, Excitement
Jun 20, 2007
Based on the science fiction novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui, the animated film Paprika tells the story of Dr. Atsuko Chiba (voice of Megumi Hayashibara), a repressed young Japanese research psychotherapist fascinated by the dreams of her patients. In an effort to help them at a deeper level, she enters their dreams as her alter-ego Paprika, a younger, more vibrant version of herself, through an experimental device called the DC Mini, which records the shared dreams on a computer.
Trapped in a Nightmare
When one of the prototype DC Mini headpieces gets stolen and the dream researchers become trapped in a frightening collective nightmare, Chiba and Paprika join forces in the merging worlds of reality and dreams to save humanity from the unknown evil force that threatens to induce mass insanity.
In Paprika, the anime is fresh and original with varying types of animation used in a dizzying display of dream sequences featuring an ongoing parade of colorful dolls, robots, clowns, household items, musical frogs, and the Statue of Liberty. However, the idea of dream interpreting and dream linking (i.e., an outsider entering someone else’s dream) has been successfully portrayed in a variety of other movies about dreams.
Other Dreamers in Movies
When Dr. Chiba talks to her patients about their troubling dreams, she echoes other famous mental health counselors in the movies who interpret dreams as part of therapeutic treatment. In the action-adventure Spider-Man 2, the mystery Spellbound, the drama Ordinary People, the thriller Final Analysis, the comedy Analyze This, and the horror film In Dreams, doctors try to analyze their patients’ dreams as a means to better mental health.
On the other hand, when Paprika enters other people’s dreams as a dream detective, she performs a far more intimate method of treatment in which she actually links her thoughts with those of the dreamer. This highly invasive (and as yet completely fictional) form of dream linking can be seen in other science fiction films as well. In The Cell, a dream linker enters the mind of a comatose killer to learn the whereabouts of his latest victim. In Dreamscape, a reluctant dream linker first enters dreams to stop nightmares, but eventually becomes a life saver. In A Nightmare on Elm Street (and its many sequels), teenagers share collective dreams of a serial killer, and must lucid dream and dream link in order to survive.
Like the heroes in The Cell, Dreamscape, and the Nightmare movies, Paprika must remain lucid throughout her dream linking experience. The only way she can manipulate her surroundings and help the dreamer is by staying conscious of the fact that she functions within the altered reality of the dreaming mind. While the previously mentioned live-action films push the limits of dream sequence creativity (relative to their release dates), Paprika has the added advantage of animation. The textured, three-dimensional look to these backgrounds combined with the vibrant explosion of sound, movement, symbolism, and story make these animated altered realities an exhilarating collective dream that you’ll certainly remember in the morning.
- Paprika
- Director/Writer: Satoshi Kon
- Run time: 90 minutes
- Rating: R (sexuality and violence)
To learn more about dreams on film, read Review of Paprika on DVD and Films of Ingmar Bergman.
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