‘In Dreams’ Spellbinding, Until The Dream Ends

The material in “In Dreams” is a sow’s ear, but director Neil Jordan has turned it into something that is, if not a silk purse, at least a very attractive canvas one.

The movie shows what happens when talented people put a classy sheen on pulp. Annette Bening plays Claire, a woman tormented by visions of children being kidnapped and killed, but she doesn’t know if they’re past or future dreams until her own daughter is snatched. No one believes Bening and, meanwhile, some psycho is out there carving up kids.

For its first hour, “In Dreams” holds you like a vise grip. Jordan and cinematographer Darius Khondji (“Seven,” “Stealing Beauty”) give it a creepily idealized look. The colors are too saturated, the striking images race by too fast, and the precise, almost overly emphatic acting makes everything feel unnervingly immediate.

Khondji’s unblinking camera shows you things you’ve never seen — a car flying off a cliff into a river, for instance, is shot so that we feel like we’re perched on the hood the whole time, watching the driver plunge from a distance of inches.

“In Dreams” looks nothing like “Seven,” but, like that movie, its world is so brilliantly realized that you feel a part of the story even before it begins.

“In Dreams”’ other big asset is Bening, who’s wonderful. Her character is the most victimized victim in the history of movies, but Bening always imparts capableness, even as Claire is drifting into madness and beyond. No actress since Jane Fonda has used her voice as effectively as Bening, whose performance progresses from girlish and tremulous to a deadened, soul-sick croak by the time she and the killer have come face-to-face.

Which is where “In Dreams” goes to hell. As long as the movie strings us along, with untold horrors ahead, we’re there, but when we find out what the horror is - a maniac who seems to have cobbled together his shtick from frequent viewings of “Psycho,” “Carrie” and “Silence of the Lambs” - we’re reminded how familiar and holey the story is, and that it’s always disappointing to get to the end of a dream.

“In Dreams” Locations: East Sprague, Newport, Showboat Credits: Directed by Neil Jordan, starring Annette Bening Running time: 1:40 Rating: R