Four Nights of a Dreamer

Four Nights of a Dreamer
Directed byRobert Bresson
Written byRobert Bresson
Based on"White Nights" (1848)
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Produced byGian Vittorio Baldi
Starring
CinematographyPierre Lhomme
Edited byRaymond Lamy
Music by
Production
companies
  • Albina Productions
  • I Film Dell'Orso
  • Victoria Film
  • ORTF
Release date
  • 13 May 1971 (1971-05-13)
Running time
87 minutes
Countries
  • France
  • Italy
LanguageFrench

Four Nights of a Dreamer (French: Quatre nuits d'un rêveur) is a 1971 French romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Robert Bresson. The film stars Isabelle Weingarten, in her feature film debut, and Guillaume des Forêts. A loose adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's short story "White Nights," the film tells the story of a down-on-his-luck artist (des Forêts) who attempts to prevent a heartbroken woman (Weingarten) from committing suicide by spending four consecutive evenings with her on the streets of Paris.

On release, Four Nights of a Dreamer was praised for its cinematography and romantic sensuality. Today, it is one of Bresson's more obscure films, in part due to complexities regarding the distribution rights. Despite (or perhaps because of) its unusually light tone for a late-style Bresson film, it has been described as one of Bresson's most underrated films. A 4K restoration was released in 2024.