The Science of Sleep
by Michel Gondry
List Price:
Our Price: $4.98
You Save: $23.00 (82%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.89 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Alain Chabat, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Gael García Bernal, Miou-Miou, Pierre VaneckDirector: Michel Gondry
Brand: Warner Brothers
Producer: Inigo Lezzi
Cinematographer: Jean-Louis Bompoint
Writer: Michel Gondry
Editor: Juliette Welfling
Producer: Frédéric Junqua
Producer: Georges Bermann
Writer: Sam Mounier
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language); French (Dubbed); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 105 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-02-06
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- Actors: Gael García Bernal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alain Chabat, Miou-Miou, Pierre Vaneck.
- Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC.
- Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1). Subtitles: English, Spanish, French.
- Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only).
- Rated R. Run Time: 106 minutes.
Movie Reviews of The Science of Sleep
Movie Review: In dreams
Summary: 5 Stars
Every person has vivid dreams -- so vivid that when they wake, it's hard to tell what's real and what was just in your dream.
And Michel Gondry, the genius behind "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," is just the director to tackle a movie about those dreams. Peppered with some of the weirdest scenes imaginable, Gondry guides this bizarre, sublime little movie to heights that most directors couldn't even dream of. (Pun intended)
Stéphane Miroux (Gael García Bernal) is a creative young dreamer from Mexico, who is lured back to Paris to live with his widowed mother. Unfortunately, the job she gets him is dull and creativity-free -- making calendars. The only upside is Stephanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg), a young woman who has moved into the same building.
Though he is initially attracted to her roommate, he soon finds that it is Stephanie he likes. Their involvement starts off well, but soon Stéphane has bungled things. He becomes increasingly wrapped up in his bizarre dreams, which are encroaching on his view of "reality." Will reality or dreams triumph, and will Stéphane be won over by love?
With a movie like "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" under his belt, it must be hard for Gondry to try to surpass himself. And while "Science of Sleep" is another exploration of the mind, it's a radically different kind of movie -- visual, quirky, and with a bittersweet edge. It has some disjointed moments, and it's not nearly as accessable, but the overall effect is like one long dream.
In a way, this movie is about escaping reality, into the labyrinth of your mind -- it might make you feel better for awhile, but ultimately it won't solve your problems, or improve your life. And to find love, you have to face the pain of reality. By the finale, some measure of peace is attained -- but still its meaning is utterly ambiguous. The viewer can decide what happens.
For the visuals, Gondry falls back on his music-video past. His music videos for the White Stripes, Bjork and Chemical Brothers were all wonderfully strange, and this movie is full of kittycat suits, enormous hands, and other magical items that seem plucked from a child's whimsical daydream. Even the mundane surroundings are colourful and striking.
Bernal plays a difficult character -- let's face it, Stéphane is rather strange, with a child's wonder and selfishness. But through glimpses into Stéphane's mind, Gondry creates sympathy for his awkwardness and creativity, and his yearning for love. The scenes where Stéphane and Stephanie (similar names for similar people) make things together has a curiously innocent intimacy.
Whimsical and almost hallucinogenic, "The Science of Sleep" is one of the most unique and compelling movies of the last year. It's not as accessable as his prior films, but it has its own bizarre charm.
Summary of The Science of Sleep
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 02/06/2007 Run time: 106 minutesThe French magician and director Georges Méliès was arguably the first master of special effects, filling the silent movie houses of the early 20th century with camera trickery that stunned and delighted audiences. A century later, Michel Gondry works very much in the spirit of his artistic predecessor and countryman, creating films and music videos that feel just as hand-crafted and visually fantastical. The Science of Sleep concerns the flirtations and misunderstandings of Stéphane (Gael García Bernal, Babel), an aspiring visual artist, and Stéphanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg, 21 Grams), his Parisian neighbor who creates whimsical sculptures from cotton balls and felt. As Stéphane toils in a caustic office for a company that makes calendars, he retreats into his dreams and finds them increasingly hard to distinguish from reality, and vice-versa. The Science of Sleep is a trilingual film, with dialogue spoken in French, English, and Spanish by characters who are very much global citizens, crossing boundaries of consciousness as easily as they cross boundaries of culture. Gondry decorates his love story with deliberately low-tech special effects, including cellophane made to look like bath water and a subconscious television studio constructed largely of corrugated cardboard. This is filmmaking with all the seams and stitches exposed, an appreciation for the patent falseness of films that nonetheless transport and enchant us. It's dreamy. --Ryan Boudinot
Similar DVD Movies
My Wife is an ActressRelease date: 2002-12-10; DVD
Best price: $7.98
Price in other shops:
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (The Criterion Collection)Miramax Home Entertainment; Release date: 2005-05-10; DVD
Best price: $3.76
Price in other shops:
Everything Is IlluminatedWarner Brothers; Release date: 2006-03-21; DVD
Best price: $4.47
Price in other shops:
Adaptation (Superbit Collection)Sony; Release date: 2003-05-20; DVD
Best price: $3.83
Price in other shops:
Synecdoche New YorkSONY PICTURES HOME ENT; Release date: 2009-03-10; DVD
Best price: $4.70
Price in other shops:
Being John MalkovichUNI DIST CORP. (MCA); Release date: 2002-11-05; DVD
Best price: $6.14
Price in other shops:
Wristcutters - A Love StoryLions Gate; Release date: 2008-03-25; DVD
Best price: $5.43
Price in other shops:
Be Kind RewindNEW Line Home Video; Release date: 2008-06-17; Published: 2008-06-01; DVD
Best price: $2.70
Price in other shops:
Waking LifeWIGGINS,WILEY; Release date: 2002-05-07; DVD
Best price: $4.28
Price in other shops:
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (Widescreen Edition)Universal Studios; Release date: 2004-09-28; DVD
Best price: $5.82
Price in other shops: