In the opening scenes, we witness a girl, either asleep or deceased, attempting to open her eyes but failing. This imagery is followed by the appearance of the Wheel of Fortune and a Circus. Here, the Circus symbolizes the Fool card in the Tarot—a depiction of the Joker, or Fool.
In essence, the entire movie can be interpreted as a journey through the Jungian or Crowleyan tarot interpretation related to these two cards: the Wheel of Fortune and the Fool. This understanding is crucial for grasping the deeper themes of the narrative.
The initial mockery and the presence of the circus reflect the archetype of the Fool for Ray. His naive and child-like mentality sets him on a path toward his tragic fate, symbolized by the turning wheel of fortune. “Hey Ray, how is the wife? How is the Family?” - asks the clown.
This is the theme of the whole movie. His obsession with a nymph and creating a family with the princess of his dreams. No matter the consequences. No matter her soul. He looked at beauty. Only beauty. Beauty alone, however, can be tragic.
The movie begins with Ray divorcing his wife. During the divorce proceedings, Ray decides not to contest the results, and his wife refrains from telling the court about his violent behavior, even though she is trying to secure her share of his assets.
In a way, she almost forgives him for the abuse. Despite this, it is revealed that she cheated on him with a “jerk” for no apparent reason. After all, she says that she still love him, and that she views Ray as perfect.
This will be important to keep in mind, because, as the movie goes, Ray will be given a second chance to prove he can be smarter, to show he can maintain his composure and not succumb to his primal instincts again. Essentially, he needs to prove that he won’t resort to violence against another wife if he faces divorce or infidelity in the future.
In the film's opening scenes, a character often provides a warning or life lesson that defines the protagonist’s journey. In "Dream Lover," the woman in red advises Ray to take his time and not be a slave to his glandular reactions.
This crucial lesson, which Ray will obviously fail, sets the stage for the entire movie. Despite being recently out of a long-term relationship, Ray is eager to start a family, and his friends caution him against rushing. He will, however, rush.
"Everything goes, everything returns; eternally turns the wheel of being... Tortuous is the path of eternity." - Nietzsche
The lesson Ray receives from his female friend in red is a crucial theme in "Dream Lover" and aligns with the primary lesson of the Wheel of Fortune tarot card: the concept of cycles—the repetitive, cyclical nature of fate and behavior.
Ray is not only trapped in a cycle of violence but is also propelled towards a tragic fate through these recurring patterns. If he fails to break the cycle, he inevitably heads toward his destiny.
It is the old same question of Hollywood movies: free will vs fate. The Wheel of Fortune tarot card depicts two strange animals turning helplessly on the ever-spinning wheel. Sallie Nichols, in her book on Jung and archetypes, elucidates the psychological significance of this card:
“To put it in more psychological terms, it is the task of all human beings striving for consciousness to release the animal energies previously trapped in the repetitive cycle of instincts so that the libido can be used more consciously.”
This directly parallels the advice given by the Lady in Red. She warns Ray against the repetitive cycle and the unconscious control of his libido, which manifests as destructive behavior. Her advice encapsulates the deeper meaning of the Wheel of Fortune: the need to break free from unconscious patterns to achieve a more conscious and deliberate use of one's energies.
After this, Ray accidentally spills his drink on a woman—or at least, he thinks it's accidental. Later, they run into each other at the supermarket and end up going out together.
After this, they make love, and superficially fall in love. She is gorgeous, a nymph, very beautiful. He gets in love, and rushes everything so to not lose her. She gives him a chance to know her better. She tells him that guys only love her for her beauty, but never know her beyond her eyes. They dont look into her soul.
She says he is no exception. He says in response: “Only God can love you for yourself alone, and not your yellow hair.”
This is the card of the Fool in motion. In the film, the Wheel of Fortune is also associated with the Fool card. This doesn’t mean that Ray is crazy, but rather that he takes steps without considering the consequences.
When the woman tells him he is being foolish for only looking into her eyes and seeing beauty, because he hasn’t seen her inner self, it serves as a warning—the last one she gives him. She is prompting him to choose whether to step into the abyss and the unknown, or to truly get to know her better. Without hesitation, he chooses to leap, just as the Fool card would do.
Thus, this becomes his archetype throughout the entire film. The Fool also represents childlike innocence, which perfectly represents Ray. He is an innocent and naive man with childlike impulses, who must learn to manage his sexual desires and his rushing need for stability and family.
What follows is tragic. They have children, and Ray slowly discovers that she is not only cheating on him without even bothering to conceal it, but he also finds out that she has a false identity. Everything he believed about her was a profound lie.
From her name to childhood stories to friends—everything was false. Once again, he finds himself embodying the archetype of the Fool. She tell him everything. She makes him extremely jealous. And then… the Wheel of Fortune in full display again. He beats her. Slaps her.
He succumbs to his impulses, repeating the cycle of violence, yet failing to learn the lesson. If there was a chance for him to redeem his soul from this childish behavior after the first divorce, he ultimately fails the test. Consequently, she becomes ruthless and fabricates an elaborate story about how he had been abusing her throughout their entire relationship.
As the Wheel of Fortune dictates, the cycle repeats (divorce after beating his wife), but this time, his Fortune was greater. His faith was sealed from the moment they made love. It turns out she had indeed orchestrated everything from the beginning. She was actually an evil psychopath.
She meticulously planned the "accident" at the party to meet him, studied Ray for an extended period, and, recognizing his susceptibility to jealousy and violent behavior when feeling betrayed, she did everything in her power to drive him to the point of madness, even to the extent of provoking him into violence. It was a sinister and carefully calculated scheme from start to finish.
She embodies the sphinx of the spiritual realm, the sphinx depicted on the Wheel of Fortune card. Sallie Nichols, in her book, says the following about the Sphinx:
"The negative maternal sphinx was immortalized in the myth of Oedipus, where she lay in wait for the hero, demanding solutions to her riddles before allowing him to proceed. Moreau's painting 'Oedipus and the Sphinx' depicts the sphinx as a seductive harpy, sinking her claws into Oedipus, hindering his progress, sapping his vitality, and threatening his very life.”
Also....
"Fortune, enthroned at the center of the wheel, has blindfolded eyes and displays a pair of golden wings, indicating both her indifference to the fate of man and her divine power to control his destiny. It is evident that she debases those who, driven by hubris, rise above her. She avenges herself by casting them down, on all fours, like beasts of the field."
Nothing more left to say. She is the Sphinx, he is the Fool. Now, she grabbed a major part of his fortune with the divorce. This was her scheme from the start.