Back to trending
Dream Lover

Dream Lover

Drama · Mystery · Thriller · 1993

Not long after they cross paths at an art gallery, architect Ray Reardon and hypnotically sensual Lena are married with children. But as strange incidents occur, Ray begins to realize he may not really know the woman he married.

Movie details

Dream Lover

“If you think you know your lover. Think again. Especially if she's your wife.”

1993 Drama · Mystery · Thriller 1h 43m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.2 / 10

6.6K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

57 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

62 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

6.7 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

Not long after they cross paths at an art gallery, architect Ray Reardon and hypnotically sensual Lena are married with children. But as strange incidents occur, Ray begins to realize he may not really know the woman he married.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Dream Lover?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Luckiest Girl Alive

Luckiest Girl Alive

Drama · 2022

A successful woman in New York City finds her life upended when she is forced to confront a dark truth that threatens to unravel her meticulously crafted life.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer

The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Drama · 2017

Dr. Steven Murphy is a renowned cardiovascular surgeon who presides over a spotless household with his wife and two children. Lurking at the margins of his idyllic suburban existence is Martin, a fatherless teen who insinuates himself into the doctor's life in gradually unsettling ways.

Endless Night

Endless Night

Mystery · 1972

Shiftless dreamer Michael Rogers fantasizes about a lifestyle above his means and marries a wealthy, young girl who just came of age. They hire a famous architect to build their dream home amidst a series of suspicious incidents. The spouse has dark intentions toward his naive, inexperienced bride. Secrets from his past and sinister ties to their house guest Greta lead to a terrible turn of unexpected events.

Chloe

Chloe

Drama · 2010

Catherine and David Stewart are a well-to-do couple living in a posh area of Toronto, but all is not well in paradise. Catherine suspects that David is cheating on her, so she hires an escort named Chloe to meet David and see if he gives in to temptation — but events spin out of control when Chloe spills the details of her torrid encounters.

Triage

Triage

Drama · 2009

The wife of a photojournalist sets out to discover why he came home from a recent assignment without his colleague.

Manhattan Night

Manhattan Night

Drama · 2016

Porter Wren is a Manhattan tabloid writer with an appetite for scandal. On the beat he sells murder, tragedy, and anything that passes for the truth. At home, he is a dedicated husband and father. But when Caroline, a seductive stranger asks him to dig into the unsolved murder of her filmmaker husband Simon, he is drawn into a very nasty case of sexual obsession and blackmail--one that threatens his job, his marriage, and his life.

The Killing

The Killing

Crime · 1956

Career criminal Johnny Clay recruits a sharpshooter, a crooked police officer, a bartender and a betting teller named George, among others, for one last job before he goes straight and gets married. But when George tells his restless wife about the scheme to steal millions from the racetrack where he works, she hatches a plot of her own.

Butterfly on a Wheel

Butterfly on a Wheel

Crime · 2007

A sociopathic kidnapper methodically pushes a desperate pair of parents to their absolute breaking point.

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

Drama · 1946

Three childhood friends, Martha, Walter and Sam, share a terrible secret. Over time, the ambitious Martha and the pusillanimous Walter have married. She is a cold businesswoman; he is the district attorney: a perfect combination to dominate the corrupt city of Iverstown at will. But the unexpected return of Sam, after years of absence, deeply disturbs the life of the odd couple.

Gone Girl

Gone Girl

Mystery · 2014

With his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent.

Where it lives

Watch in your region.

Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.

Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Nicholas Kazan

Written by

Nicholas Kazan

James Spader

James Spader

Ray Reardon

Mädchen Amick

Mädchen Amick

Lena Mathers

Fredric Lehne

Fredric Lehne

Larry

Bess Armstrong

Bess Armstrong

Elaine

Larry Miller

Larry Miller

Norman

Kathleen York

Kathleen York

Martha

Kate Williamson

Kate Williamson

Mrs. Sneeder

Court is in session

Put Dream Lover on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Auteur Devotee

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.