Structure for a Dream Movie

I watched Altman's fantastic 3 Women for the first time last night, and it got me thinking about the dream film as a form. Spoilers below.First of all, what a film. Shelly Duval and Sissy Spacek knocked it out of the park - it's sad and tender and erotic and unsettling, and then after a while it becomes deeply nightmarish. Two women move through and are nearly swallowed by the purgatory of California. They try their best to make it comfortable and sustainable, and they are ground away by it, because they cannot understand its codes. Spacek doesn't care at all, Duval cares too much, she cares more than anything. Duval gives an unbelievable performance as this strange, damaged woman - watching her move through the scenes is genuinely heartbreaking. Her loneliness is deep and hopeless and vulnerable, and it flavours the entire film. Spacek is a drifter, an ingenue, an empty vessel with intense appetites and restless and obsessive eyes. Duval tries as hard as she can to inscribe herself…