"Sweet Dreams", the second feature film by director Ena Sendijarević, unfolds a compelling narrative about the end of the colonial era in the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) presented through the lens of a dysfunctional family's disintegration. The story takes place around 1900, as the colonial status in the Netherlands begins to take shape. Following the golden age of colonialism, critical reflections on colonial practices emerge. The film portrays a group of people aware that the golden age is ending, and who are reluctant to relinquish their privileges.

Landowner Jan (Hans Dagelet) spends his days introducing his illegitimate son Karel (Rio Kaj Den Haas), whose mother is the servant Siti (Hayati Azis), to the adult world. When Jan unexpectedly dies, his wife Agatha (Renée Soutendijk) calls their son Cornelius to return from the Netherlands to Indonesia. He arrives with his pregnant wife Josefien (Lisa Zweerman) only to discover he is not the heir to the estate, a fact his mother cannot accept.

The director meticulously arranges every detail of the story, emphasizing the notable absence of love, primarily physical love, in the film. Along this line, Jan avoids Agatha, instead chooses to sleep with the servant. Agatha copes with her husband's infidelity and sexual disinterest by drinking tea with copious amounts of sugar. After Jan's death, Agatha rejects a priest who attempts to woo her. Son Cornelius, in turn, has no interest in sleeping with his pregnant wife Josefien. She, rejected by the local Reza (Muhammad Khan), resorts to self-gratification with the edge of a bed.

In this film, love is a means to achieve personal interests, especially evident in the character of Siti whose sole objective is to secure a better life for her son. Her love life is reduced to this goal. In the two lovemaking scenes (with the plantation owner and Reza), Siti shows no desire but engages in the act as a means to an end. In her case, making love is seeking protection, so her pleasure in both scenes is minimized, while her body serves her to achieve her goals. Making love to Jan, she aims for privileges in the household and to be the lady of the house. After Jan's death, she sleeps with a servant just to find someone else to care for her and her child. This notion is perhaps most pronounced in the final scene when Siti sets the house on fire. In a dream, enveloped in smoke, she envisions a colossal figure (like King Kong) gently embracing her, providing protection, at least in the afterlife.

Siti's son is a blend of these two worlds (the Dutch as colonizers and the local population) that intertwine throughout the film, yet he belongs to neither. As the sole surviving character, we can infer that while characters may change, the principles of dominance remain the same: this child is our future, this child is us, this child is the "fruit of love" in a story where love serves the purpose of achieving goals.