The Science of Sleep
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Movie Reviews of The Science of Sleep
Movie Review: A creative comedy for the mind and senses
Summary: 4 Stars
The trilingual French comedy "The Science of Sleep" is the life of an overly imaginative young Mexican-Frenchman (Stéphane played by Gael García Bernal) that develops a crush on his neighbor (Stéphanie played by Charlotte Gainsbourg.) What makes the film interesting and memorable is Stephane being an artistic fellow with a runaway imagination who dreams of hosting a television talk show and creating artistic rendering including water that is in fact cellophane and a future machine. His flirtations with Stephanie, the renter that lives across the hall in the building owned by his mother, are all built around these daydreams of artistry.
This is a film of brilliant endeavor and the ultimate creativity. Stephane's life, as told through the film, is a merger of fantasy and reality with the two often so mixed you can't tell the difference. It also has a wonderful script most 20-somethings will readily identify with in terms of youthful verve and spirit.
The movie was clearly influenced by other films, none more than Robert DeNiro's 1981 tour de force, "The King of Comedy," where the storylines of wanton fame, sexual desire, and glory and the intermingling of real life (real life in the movies, that is) and fantasy or dreamscape are regularly intertwined.
While "The King of Comedy" The King of Comedy was more tangible than "The Science of Sleep," the two are a mated pair developed a quarter-century apart on similar themes and values. Even though none of "King"'s black comedy came through in the French-English-Spanish speaking (with subtitiles for the trilingually impaired) gentleness and joyfulness of "The Science of Sleep," the two share laugh out loud moments and an endearing comic spirit throughout. In one memorable scene, Stephane awakes from one of his dreams -- that you don't know isn't reality until he awakes -- to find his feet in the freezer covered with frost.
"The Science of Sleep" won't go down on anyone's list of 25 greatest films yet it is a memorable comedy infected with moments of pathos and sensitivity that will have you cheering for the lead characters. I'd never seen Gael García Bernal before and he is very effective in the lead role. Charlotte Gainsbourg has a larger filmography; many have seen her in 2003's "21 Grams" and she was the victim of the 1999 thriller, "The Intruder." She does well here and has excellent chemistry with her male counterpart.
Any fan of foreign film or comedy or even love stories should give this movie a whirl. It's unlikely you've ever seen anything like it no matter how many movies you watch. It is a delight and maintains interest throughout, even with something of a cop-out ending. It's not easy to end a movie as episodically artistic as this one -- with a limited plotline built around a couple characters whose interactions revolve around art in fantasy -- and they didn't quite overcome that hurdle, sending the pair riding off on a salt and pepper stallion at the end. Perhaps it was the fitting conclusion to 95 minutes of sheer joy, after all.
Movie Review: Love can make you crazy, or crazier
Summary: 4 Stars
Music-video director Michael Gondry is known for doing some of the most inventive and strange videos ever, from many a White Stripes video to Beck and Foo Fighters and Bjork, Gondry took that style into his first film, "Human Nature" but hit paydirt with the delightful "Eternal Sunshine and the Spotless Mind". Naturally, any huge film has to have the dreaded follow-up where it might not be as successful and well-liked with people calling it disappointing and I wouldn't call Science of Sleep disappointing but the charm that Spotless Mind has in spades is only found a little bit here.
Stephane is an aspiring graphic designer who returns to live near his mom after his father dies. Instead of best using his talents, he's hired to paste paper onto calendars. By chance, and a little injury, he meets Stephanie and Zoe, with the former being his new neighbor. Although attracted to Zoe, he suspects its Stephanie who likes him and he soon starts fantasizing a romance with Stephanie since one in the real world doesn't seem likely but his dreams start to interfere with his life and he can awake from one and be thrown into the next.
In many ways, Gondry's films, namely this one and Sunshine have themes that everyone can relate to but they don't necessarily have to follow the rules of reality. While the previous film was essentially a love story played out in someone's head, Science is about the longing for something you probably won't have and the fantasies becoming more easier to have than the real life. In many ways I can relate to this idea and while I won't be waking out of my fantasies anytime soon, the idea of what we think is unrequited love is a universal one and luckily Science doesn't just simply deal with it in plain terms.
One of the nice things about Science is that it manages to have a sweet tone even if the story feels kind of sluggish. There's only so much crazy to show before it feels like we're just spinning our wheels in the air and not a lot of story developments happen. The neighbor Zoe at one point drops from the story and one fantasy even a co-worker doesn't go anywhere in the real life that it makes you wonder what's the point in it if he doesn't act on it? But the images, with characters looking like they're flying to cellophane acting like water to a TV set made of cardboard, the inventive visuals are just as welcome as they were in the videos.
As for the acting, we have Gael Garcia Bernal who is always good, Charlotte Gainsbourg who has a unique attractive quality even though her neighbor friend might look cuter to some but Charlotte just has a quality about her where you would find her the more appealing. The rest of the cast is good too like Alain Chabat as Stephane's filthy-minded co-worker friend but this is mainly the Stephane and Stephanie show so it's not really ground for co-stars to be bigger but they do fill in the edges nicely.
It's best if you watch the film without thinking you're seeing Sunshine part 2 so if you watch the film just as it is, you can find a delightfully quirky movie.
Movie Review: Sweet Science
Summary: 4 Stars
Full of whimsy and fantastic plot elements, "The Science of Sleep" is a curious, eccentric little foreign film that is equal parts alluring and disturbing. An homage to the dreamer in everyone, it is cute without being saccharine, over the top yet intimate. Set in Paris and told in three languages, principally English, the movie has an intriguing international punch.
Mexican actor Gael García Bernal, known for his roles in "Babel" and "The Motorcycle Diaries," is insecure and conflicted as Stephane. A young man returning home to Paris after his mother Christine, played by French actress Miou-Miou, exaggerates the prospects of an illustrating job, he is crushed at how little creativity it allows.
Stephane frequently wanders off in his thoughts, but he has no mere daydreams. He often confuses fantasy with reality, disappearing often into "Stephane TV" where he puts together the ingredients that will comprise his dreams. A squirt of random thought, a little touch of reminisces of the day, a mix of old memories, and records he recently listened to are just some of the ingredients added to the pot.
Not keen to head right back to Mexico, he tries to make the most of his present situation, but his innermost desires manifest themselves in his dreams, revealing a creative soul that's restless yet stunted.
One morning a drill goes through the wall of his apartment, announcing the arrival of his new neighbor, Stephanie, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, whose piano he nearly destroys. When he sees a fellow creative spirit in her, he falls helplessly in love, but is too self-conscious and socially inept to properly win her heart. The dreams thus provide a soothing respite, but they also create their share of trouble.
His well-meaning, oversexed co-worker Guy, played with suave nonchalance by Alain Chabat, tries to help Stephane overcome his anxieties and play the game of love, but it is easier said than done. He is older and more sophisticated, but this does not necessarily equal maturity.
What drives the film is how Bernal and Gainsbourg treat the interactions between their characters. Stephanie may not make things easy for Stephane, but she is hardly cold or cruel, just less naive and idealistic than her starry-eyed admirer. That this difference makes them fine complements for each other is for the viewer to decide.
The special effects in the dream sequences are not as impressive as they are simply eye-popping. Stephane's hands grow thirty times larger, Paris becomes more suited for swimming than for walking, and he becomes the respected artist he wishes he could be. In fact, his colleagues become so loyal they turn a note he wrote to Stephanie into a novel to impress her. "I'm Just Your Neighbor and a Liar. By the Way, Do You Have Zoe's Number?" becomes a blockbuster.
"The Science of Sleep" is not for everyone, but those who enjoy quirky, offbeat comedy/dramas will enjoy it immensely. It is not the easiest movie to digest, but it is an ultimate reward.
Movie Review: A Magical Bon-Bon from Michel Gondry
Summary: 4 Stars
The French have a way with films that tinker with reality, fantasy, illusions, and delusions and the result of those traits have produced some of the most exciting and avant garde films ever made. Michel Gondry has inherited the mantle from Cocteau, Resnais, etc and runs with it in this charming little diversion of a film THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP.
Gondry is primarily a visual artist and tells his stories in a visual manner, but that is not to say his stories are superficial or trivial: he has a preoccupation with the thin line between reality and non-reality, between dream and diurnal creativity, and it is this space that occupies his mind, his pen, his camera, and his mission in this little tale.
Stéphane Miroux (the enormously gifted, dedicated and hunky Gael García Bernal) is a true 'artist', a young man whose father is Mexican and whose mother is French, and he has entered Paris to begin a job his mother Christine (Miou-Miou) assures him is creative: it actually is a boring, restricting graphic design outfit (though populated by some zany confrères including Guy played beautifully by Alain Chabat who allows to run with his idea of publishing a calendar whose months are pictured by world disasters!) that at first defeats Stéphane's artistic integrity.
Stéphane dreams and in his dream life he is a TV host who can make the most impossible things happen. His work frustrations push him further into his dream world and he finds it more real than the mundane life of daytime. He lives across the hall from an equally delicate artistic mind named Stéphanie (the always fine and adroit Charlotte Gainsbourg) who is caught up in her own dream world of making little boats of paper and water of cellophane and clouds of cotton. The two begin a touch and run relationship that gradually develops into a mutual appreciation for each other's idiosyncrasies - in the best of all possible ways.
Gondry peppers his script with make-believe constructions, testy conversations, and some very funny and naughty observations that he tosses off with aplomb. Gael García Bernal infuses this strange role with a facile use of three languages (English, French and Spanish) and with a tender sense of comic timing and sensual magnetism that makes him irresistible. He carries the fantasy on his capable shoulders allowing us to love his bizarrely complex character at every quirky turn. He is an actor who takes more risks than most and is destined to be one of our more important actors as he continues to gain attention.
For those who need sharp margins of linearity and borders between reality and fantasy, this film may confuse and frustrate. But for viewers who love 'taking rides through dream fantasies on felt horses' this film is sure to please. Grady Harp, February 07
Movie Review: Reaching deep into the corners of the mind
Summary: 4 Stars
Some film reviewers labeled French filmmaker Michel Gondry's critically-acclaimed "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (with its Charlie Kaufman script) as "Gondry lite" or "Gondry for beginners." If that's the case, you certainly get "the full Gondry" in his surreal but stunning "The Science of Sleep."
Stéphane Miroux (Gael Garcia Bernal) has just arrived in Paris from Mexico to live in his childhood home. An artist, Stéphane thought his mother had found him an important design job with a calendar publishing company. Unfortunately, he only has a menial layout task and hates his job. Stéphane, however, can escape from daily stresses into his own private world. He's got quite a creative mind and a vivid imagination... his strange daydreams frequently seem to intersect with reality in often frightening ways.
An accident leads him to meet Stéphanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg), his new next-door neighbor. Stéphane thinks he's falling for her best friend Zoe, but he soon realizes that he's more attracted to Stéphanie's equally creative mind. It's not quite clear whether the feeling is mutual, however - especially when she doesn't know quite how to deal with his impulsive behavior and random utterances.
Gondry has taken bits of his innermost subconscious mind and made them explode like fireworks on the movie screen. "The Science of Sleep" initially seems a completely disjointed mess in multiple languages, and the ending leaves audiences guessing somewhat. The journey through the film with quirky Stéphane, however, is an intriguing one.
What makes this movie quite effective is Gondry's mastery of simple visual effects. While the film does not use some of the seamless special effects that were the hallmark of "Eternal Sunshine," it is still no less of a visual feast. The projections, stop-motion animation sequences and bizarre sets which bring Stéphane's imagination to life truly give audiences the dizzy feeling of weaving back and forth across the line separating dreams and reality.
Garcia Bernal gives an incredible performance as the reality-challenged Stéphane, and Gallic beauty Gainsbourg quietly charms audiences as Stéphanie. Among the supporting cast members, Alain Chabat stands out as Stéphane's supportive supervisor Guy.