Extroverts Hypnotized Audience Think They Saw a Funny Movie Experiment
Pure artistry.
There is no surprise in Hollywood's ignoring this film for awards and honors. None at all. This film does not speak Hollywood's language, because it speaks the language of art, not the language of money. It is brilliant. It is entertaining. It is visually hypnotic. It is insightful. These qualities cannot be found in today's blockbusters. Bernal is endearing and funny. Gainsbourg is beautiful in an intensely real light. The pace of the film is exquisite. I also had the pleasure of watching the 'Making of...' documentary on the DVD. Michel Gondry's subtle genius shines brilliantly in the interviews. The techniques employed to achieve the effects in the film are amazingly un-Hollywood. I have a new respect for French film-making. Added to the wonders of Jeunet are the wonders of Gondry. I cannot recommend this film strongly enough to anyone with a sense of humor and imagination.
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Dreamy Art Pic that requires multiple viewings
I just saw this at the Sundance Film Festival and feel compelled to saw a few things about the flick. This movie is so insanely good and just plain insane at the same time. The movie follows Gael Garcia's character as he moves back to his mothers home in Paris and finds himself falling for the girl across the hall. Gael's character experiences reality through dreams and the present, creating all sorts of confusion. The movie has some of the most unique props and eccentric animation pieces I have ever seen, but would you expect anything less from Gondry (Eternal Sunshine..). This movie really can't be described in truth but holds so much potential for multiple viewings as its so full of life and visual wonders for the eyes. Gael Garcia is just perfect in this role and is fascinating in gesture and laugh out loud funny when the script allows. I think you should definitely look forward to seeing this movie when it gets a wide release, its funny, its art, its pleasure for the eyes and a puzzle for the mind.
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The Weirdness of Reality
Or, The Science of Sleep. A film that rates -very- high on the weirdness scale as it tells the story of a man that has trouble keeping reality and dreamworld apart. It starts when he moves back to France to live with his mother after his father passes away. The rest of his story is a fairly normal one, just the way it is played out is rather odd.
This film had me watching it open mouthed for most of the time. From the very start of it to the very end. In fact, I might have had my mouth open from the moment it started - I didn't realize it until about halfway through. The astonishment and pleasure on my end started with the very first shots - the way things got depicted and worked out. A film that is as much a film as a true piece of art.
I can do nothing other than rating this one very highly. It is like a dream but also like reality and it explains its title and theme very clearly. Acting is good enough and the music choice is very fitting. All in all, very worthwhile material.
9 out of 10 fuzzy dreams
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A cardboard and cellophane dream world
THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP (Michael Gondry - France/Italy 2006).
There's something magical about this wonderfully sweet romantic fantasy by Michael Gondry. A love story, emotionally rich with dazzling dream-like visuals, done the old-fashioned way with simple stop-motion animation techniques. We see Stéphane flying above his cardboard imagination of Paris and later, we see him sitting in the bathtub full of silver cellophane. It's Gondry's first film as writer-director after a two-feature partnership with Philip Kaufman. Not surprisingly, it feels a bit Kaufmanesque, as Gondry's previous "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", but now dreams have replaced memory.
Stéphane can hardly make the distinction between his own dreamworld and the outside reality and doesn't know a whole lot about love. For no apparent reason he lies to Stéphanie that he lives next door to her, which results in some comic situations. He also wants to be an inventor and so he gives her his 3-D glasses, 'but the world is already in 3-D', she replies. He is a man-child, unable to adjust himself to the everyday realities of the outside world.
Ultimately the relationship between Stéphane and Stéphanie ends in a kind of stalemate, and so does the film itself. How do you end a film? With most films I can't wait till it's over, but here it seemed like the last twenty minutes got lost in the editing room. A very abrupt ending. The film might have a bit of an unsatisfying resolution, but Gondry creates magic here. It's the dreamworld that makes this rise above the level of just another romantic comedy, and it's funny, very funny. The breathtaking stop-motion animation is a feast for the eye and the sets and creations are wonderful to look at. The film had me in a permanent smile.
Camera Obscura --- 8/10
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Don't be fooled by the eye candy here: he's schizophrenic!
Warning: Spoilers
After reviewing all of the d.v.d. extras, it still is clear that one of the notable characters in THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP meets enough of the DSMIV-R check-list for paranoid schizophrenia to qualify as a textbook-ready case. The voices in his head, the visual delusions, the wild mood swings, the violent outbursts, harming himself, his alternate realities, his stalking behaviors, his idiosyncratic use of language, his distorted perceptions of his own body, his relationship with his parents and coworkers, his inability to "fit in," his megalomania, his fractured ego, his inability to distinguish dreams from reality--it's all there. Though many films feature paranoid schizophrenics, most of them use this sad condition as an exploitive plot device, making it LESS likely that audience members will have any true understanding or sympathy for the victims of this illness, most of whom are guilty only of sharing their parents' genes. Many high functioning schizophrenics, such as Vincent van Gogh, have made enormous contributions to humanity's cultural treasure trove, often without making a penny for themselves. However, people like van Gogh--who have enough talent, as well as luck, to make a mark on society, are the exception to the rule, whereas folks such as the one in this film or the patients I've worked with (whose "triumphs" are only in their minds) are the disheartening norm. Kudos to SLEEP writer\director Michel Gondry for providing the world with one of the few balanced views of this heart-breaking condition.
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Don't let that vote fool you
This is a perfect example of a love-it-or-hate-it movie simply because its very nature means it's somewhat plot less -- we're constantly unsure if what we're seeing on the screen is really real or just in Gael Garcia Bernal's dreams, and some moviegoers abhor uncertainty, hence I think the large number of "1" votes for this flick. (Also, the film is ostensibly foreign, but moves from French to English with equal measure, with a little bit of Spanish tossed in, too. So maybe the shifts in language also irked some people, but I found it enchanting.) So don't let those low votes fool you; this is a beautiful, sublime film, and if you let yourself go onto its wavelength, you'll most likely find yourself *enjoying* the (perhaps unsolvable) visual puzzle Michel Gondry has created here. It is the quintessence of magical realism, and yet everything comes across as absolutely effortless, unlike the forced whimsy of, say, last year's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or the too-clever-by-half Adaptation. I dare say it's probably one of the best films of the year.
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Surreal, not story-driven and in general not for everyone
One of the most important things to note about this is that it is not meant to be a mainstream piece. If you like Charlie Kaufman and/or Michel Gondry(as I do, I love the latter's approach and style, and it is immensely evident here; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of my favorite films), this is for you. No, there is little real plot. This is delving into the mind of the lead, and in doing so, exploring emotions(including complex, ambivalent ones) and his relationship with a woman. Ah, not just any, she may be the one. Shifting back and forth between imagination and reality, this is often intentionally disorienting about which we're seeing at that specific time. There is marvelous ambiguity in this. The visuals are amazing, creative, and always perfectly conveying the mood that they are supposed to. Excellent stop-motion animation. The actors(who all deliver impeccable performances) actually got to see what their realistically written(not all likable) and nicely fleshed out characters were meant to be seeing, so they could react to it, not merely "pretend it's there". This is in English with a bit of French and occasionally Spanish, and both are subtitled. The editing is spot-on. There is a little sexuality, infrequent strong language and brief male nudity in this. I recommend this to anyone who believes that this medium can be an artform. 8/10
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An inventive joy with a wicked undertone
Michel Gondry, the visually creative giant behind some of MTV's most stylistically innovative music videos, and more recently the driving force behind his and script writer extraordinare Charlie Kaufman's brilliant Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, finally makes his solitary debut, choosing to write and direct this surrealist tale of dreams, reality, and the lines some people walk between them. Fans of the visual virtuoso must have been anticipating Gondry's official declaration as auteur for some time, having salivated for a decade now as this French director continually pushed the envelope for lucky musicians.
I'm sure many saw The Science of Sleep as a proving ground that would help fans see if the eccentric director would be able to parlay all of these visually creative aspects into a more cohesive, cinematic experience. By and large, the dangerously imaginative movie succeeds on it's own, though there are a few discrepancies to note. First, it does feel that much of the way the movie is shot, in particular the scenes which stay most grounded in reality, do mimic a lot of the production values that gave Eternal Sunshine such a realistically detached value to it. Ditto with much of the stream-of-consciousness script, at times heavily emulating the flow Gondry and Kaufman helped pioneer the first time around. The actual plot is decidedly low-key, and for good reason, though at times Gondry does struggle to fill all of his microcosms with relevance. To say these values remain derivative and do not completely complement the whimsically dark storytelling taking place here though, would be to forsake the fantastic and singular joy that the Science of Sleep is.
Regardless of it's constant French avant-garde noodling, and despite the obvious parallels to Gondry's previous film, Science remains a near-masterwork, punctuated by the intoxicating rhythm of it's perceptive dream sequences, often edited with the most keen of intentions. Whether viewers will stay immersed throughout the fantasy bleed-in will be up to ones subjective threshold, and ones ability to thrive off of the magically deranged pacing that hints at underlying psychological relevance. Gondry's masterful pacing does not disappoint, culminating with the brilliant evolution of the script's supremely playful tone into something much more serious.
Of course, the sincere material would only be at home when recited by actors of a pure heart, and in this Gondry also excels by casting two leads who do everything they can to involve us in the realist fantasy. Gael García Bernal, always doing well to pick good material, finally slips into an English language role with the ease I would expect, and the luminous yet subdued Charlotte Gainsbourg radiates the earthly kind of magic that this film is all about. People with strict objective agendas stay clear, anyone else who still uses an inkling of their imagination, please dive in. It may not be perfect, but Science is surely one of the most unique and perceptive fantasies to merge with the mass consciousness in years.
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Pure genius from the director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Science of Sleep is most likely the best and most visionary film playing at Sundance this year (I say most likely because I've only seen two, but I doubt that anything can top it). Furthermore, I believe that The Science of Sleep is one of the best and most visionary films I've ever seen.
The Science of Sleep is about Stephane (Gael Garcia Bernal), a creative and naïve dreamer who moves from Mexico to his childhood home in Paris after his father's death. He takes a job at a calendar company, assuming that it will allow him to express himself creatively. Living across from Stephane is Stephanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg), an equally creative woman. They form a relationship and as it grows, it becomes threatened by Stephane's overactive dream world, which begins creeping into his waking life.
The Science of Sleep marks the screen writing debut of director Michel Gondry. This is Gondry's third theatrical feature film, after Human Nature and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Much like last year's Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, where it was unfiltered Shane Black on the screen; The Science of Sleep is pure Gondry from start to finish. This is Gondry's immense visual world unrestrained by a script by Charlie Kaufman, and this world of fancy and imagination is where the film flourishes.
The title sequence is set to the image of spin art (think back to the days of your school carnival) as we enter Stephane's active dream world. The paint layers upon itself as the colors stretch further and further outward, while we hear Stephane dreaming. This perfectly sets the tone for the rest of the film as we see bright and vibrant imagery and characters layered upon each other and pulled outward into their worlds. The magic of the sequence is broken, though, when we are immediately brought into the real world.
Stephane's real life is as banal and mundane as anyone could imagine. As an artist, he feels suffocated in a job where he "glues in a basement all day." In his own time, he creates inventions such as 3D glasses for real life ("Isn't real life already in 3D?" asks Stephanie) or one second time machines. His indomitable creative spirit is what he finds mirrored in the equally creative, yet more realistically centered Stephanie.
In direct contrast is Stephane's dream world. It is outlandish, beautiful, and unrestrained. It is in these sequences when Gondry takes flight. The sequences are filled with so much eye candy it is difficult to take in. They range from the absurd (a spider typewriter), to the grand (an entire cardboard city), or to the beautiful (a cloth horseback ride to a boat on a sea of cellophane). What makes the sequences all the more incredible is that, for the most part, he relies only on practical effects. Also remarkable is the way that the dream world represents the film's reality. The film is so very aware of itself and its intentions and the dream sequences utilize that knowledge to the full extent. As the dreams begin to invade the real world, this knowledge becomes even more vital. Gondry's meticulous attention to detail is a benefit, seeing as he does not confound himself, and therefore does not confound the audience (for the most part).
It is also filled with wonderful dialogue, and it finds transcendent humor through the characters. By using truth instead of punch lines to provide the humor, Gondry adds another layer to his already versatile film. The dialogue is in French, English, and Spanish, each seamlessly interweaving with each other, much like the realities of the film interweave. There comes a point in the film where you stop realizing the language of the film is constantly changing. It comes as the three worlds represented by the language (the Spanish is who Stephane was; the English, he who is now; and the French is his dream of the future) begin to merge into Stephane's one reality.
The film truly ascends to its full potential when it arrives at such an incredibly heightened state where we have little idea if we are in reality or in a dream. It is a language of its own, and in and of itself, it is seamless.
The Science of Sleep is not simply a visual wonder of a film, either. The performances are touching and heartfelt. Gael Garcia Bernal continues to be one of the most talented actors working. His performance is filled with so much raw emotion, giving a strong emotional core to the film. I believe that without his powerful and nuanced performance, the spectacle of the film would have been too much; however, Bernal keeps it grounded in reality with a performance so truthful that the insanity happening around him seems completely believable. The same can be said of Charlotte Gainsbourg as Stephanie, as well as the myriad of supporting actors, each playing fully developed characters.
Few films ever achieve their full potential, this exceeds it. The Science of Sleep is a film that will excite you with its visual fancy, and touch you with its powerful emotion. Michel Gondry has created a film that even through the unbelievable proceedings, has so many deftly-crafted human moments. Deep down, this film is a love story. Going back to the title sequence's spin art, below all of layers being spun and pushed around run currents of human emotion which Gondry smartly anchors the film with; therefore, allowing it to soar.
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a romantic story of a different kind
Director Michel Gondry continues his exploration of the world of dreams, this time without the master writing of Charlie Kaufman who authored the script of 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'. Taking upon himself the writing of the story and setting it in an every day Parisian setting Gondry succeeds quite well to continue on the same line of dreams taking over the real world. Here he brings to screen a very direct and simple love story between two young people living half in reality, half in the world of dreams of the principal character. Stephane (Gael García Bernal) is a Mexican young fellow visiting his mother and trying to accommodate with a boring job. He is less living in the real world and more in a world of fantasy where he is trying to find place for his neighbor Stephanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg) he falls for.
The very simple and direct story has an overall air of freshness, resulting from acting, but especially from the very warm and almost childish approach to the world of dreams put together by Gondry. His surrealistic space has nothing threatening, no shades or sharp lines as in Dali or De Chirico's paintings no hidden threats as in Hitchcock or social pressure as in Bunuel's movies. It is rather the world of childish cartoons, a low-tech and benevolent space of a prolonged childhood. If we are to trace the roots I would rather go back to the innocence of the characters in Boris Vian's 'L'Ecume des Jours.
I do not know if Gondry will continue his exploration of the world of dreams in future films, but with the two movies in this thematic space he already left a print of his own in a different type of cinema I would call cinema of dreams. From several points of view, because of the sincerity and freshness of the narration I liked more 'La Science des Reves' than the stars-stricken 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'.
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dreaming- what else?
it's funny to read how many people seem to be upset after having seen the film, because he was so boring for them, nearly without sense or any real plot. But what do you want of a film called "The science of dreams" (in original)? Have you ever had a dream, which really had a defined structure or felt like being the normal story of a normal day? After my opinion the film was great, simply copying the "structure" of a fantastic dream. Of course, after some minutes you won't find your way out of this chaos anymore. But that's the way it should be. Simply sitting in the cinema and no longer being able to realize, if you are still watching the film or if you have lost yourself in your own dreams. So to say, only a film for people living in two worlds, the real one and the magical one of dreaming.
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A Magical Bon-Bon from Michel Gondry
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
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Achieves most of its aims tho still annoying, plot less and frustrating
Warning: Spoilers
I viewed this based on a number of factors: Gondry's work on Eternal Sunshine and some of the most inventive music videos ever created; Gael Garcia Bernal whom I've yet to see in a dud movie.
Until now.
Gondry achieves his aim of immersing the viewer into a waking dream. Like the protagonist, as the film goes on we lose the ability to tell what is real from what isn't. At times when you think Stephane is lucid and in honest communication with the other characters in the story something will happen that will completely throw you. Is he ever fully awake? Is he asleep? Or is he just daydreaming? The visuals are very dreamlike and reminiscent of Gondrys music videos for The White Stripes, Steriogram and Bjork (to name a few). Marvellous to watch and remarkably effective.
Where the film started to lose effect for me was when frustration began to replace sympathy for Stephanes predicament and character. Some of his actions and statements appeared indicative of a deeply mentally unbalanced individual verging on creepy. He was effectively emotionally hassling the object of his affection with behavior that was becoming plainly offensive. Because of this it is hard to see how he could win Stephanies affection let alone anyone else's. If anything he appears a manic depressive and in need of psychiatric help and if the film had ended with him sitting in the corner of a padded cell, drooling from the side of his mouth, having completely retreated into his much preferred dream state full-time, it might have been entirely appropriate.
What the film does instead is leave you with the possibility (tho slim) that Stephanie will be attracted to his fragility thereby allowing Stephane to achieve his stated objective, however messily he went about it and despite his obvious social dysfunction. To me this was a cop out and unrealistic. Sure, it's one of many possibilities, most of them unhappy for Stephane, but it's those last few scenes that your understanding of the film as a whole hangs on. My reaction was one of annoyance and frustration.
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Marvellous creativity and visuals
This film is about the life of a young man, who moved to France to rejoin his mother after his father died of cancer in Mexico.
The abundance of imagination and creativity is amazing. The dream scenes are wonderfully created. Stéphane's brain, which is portrayed by a card box studio. There is a very busy desk in the middle, and two windows to see the outside world. Life is a constant dream for Stéphane, and sometimes even he cannot tell whether he was dreaming or it was real. The scene of Stéphane in the bathtub with cellophane water, writing the letter is hilarious! The cardboard world and the volcano eruption are equally expressive and visually impressive. This film constantly marvels me with its constant creativity and impressive visuals.
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Beyond art
This film is beautiful, intricate, fun - all at the same time. It hits the mind and pulls the heart strings on so many levels - while still managing to make a whole cinema audience laugh loudly, frequently and unreservedly. Michel Gondry has created something really wonderful here, the kind of film worth seeing again and again.
The Science of Sleep is trying to do something quite different to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but there's definitely something of the same feel. Certainly the level of exquisite artistry is comparable, but maybe it's also the amount of care and sincerity that has been invested in the inner lives of the film's characters.
This director/writer never sells anyone short, say, by using a character or situation just as a plot or artistic device. Instead the characters' growth and flow of ideas are what build the story, always treated with a touch that is loyal and genuine. You begin to feel loyal to them yourself, to have a sense of them as very real people in whose ultimate well-being you have a very involving stake.
That's all I really need say about the film, though I'd point out that the few negative comments I've seen below really weren't worth reading. Reservations I can understand (as everyone's different, right?) but these naysayers are clearly emotionally, intellectually and artistically stunted. Most likely they can't comprehend a work that doesn't fit their prescribed and limited framework for film appreciation - the sort which demands that progression be made through exactly the crude plot and character devisings which this film avoids. In fact, I don't think the Science of Sleep even studiously avoids them - it is simply a mile above such considerations. The film works on every level - and if you're even halfway to normal with your own emotional development you'll get what's good about this.
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Short and sweet
Warning: Spoilers
Those looking for the intriguing complexity of "Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind" may be disappointed. Directed (and written) by the same director Michael Gondry and exploring the same premise of what goes on in the mind, "SOS" (I kinda like this) is nevertheless simple and familiar. You'll recognize right away a lovable, introvert individual with difficulties in expressing his emotions. You'll also likely embrace the familiar theme on reaching out, empathizing and connecting.
The plot is simplicity itself, about a young man who since childhood had difficulties in differentiating dream from reality. We see him returning home, after growing up in Mexico, to Paris where his mother has arranged a job for him, to start a new life. He still sleeps in his old room, with his feet protruding form the end of the bed from calves down. In the work front, there's the usual group of supporting cast made up of boss and co-workers, serving as a diversion. The focus however is on his relationship with a quiet girl who, although not as introvert as he, needs to do a little reaching out herself. That relationship, as recited in my summary line, is short and sweet, for the most part.
Stephane and Stephanie (yes!) are played by two wonderful actors, with equally wonderful chemistry. Gael Garcia Bernal, Pedro Almodovar's favourite actor, has become even more popular globally since "The motorcycle diaries". Charlotte Gainsbourg is essentially French although she has appeared in "21 grams". Not a conventional ravishing beauty, she has a very attractive quiet charm that you are unlikely to forget if you have watched any of her movies, such as "Lemming". Their roles in SOS might have been tailored-made for the two of them.
One interesting thing is that while this is a French movie, happening in Paris, 90 per cent of the dialogue is in English, as Stephane's mother tongue is Spanish and he speaks little French.
Although SOS does not have the complexity and soaring imagination of "Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind", it does have some nice touches of its own. The one I like best is a scene when she throws up to the ceiling some light, cotton-like substance, imagining them to be clouds. For a puzzling moment, he dashes towards the piano and bangs out various chords, very purposefully. It's not easy to suppress a smile when he finally hits upon the right chord, when you see all the "clouds" suspending from the ceiling.
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A quirky treat
From the same school as "Stranger than Fiction" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", (it shares 'Sunshine's' director, Michael Gondry who is also the writer), this phantasmagorical romantic comedy finds Gael Garcia Bernal falling in love with the sweet girl in the apartment opposite, (a lovely Charlotte Gainsborough). To win her, both he and the movie largely dispenses with reality so while things don't always make sense the charm factor remains resolutely high.
Whimsy is kept at bay by the plaintiff note of sadness running through the film, (Bernal is something of a loser; he has the face and benign manner of a Pierrot), but it is so light and Bernal is so likable you can't really imagine Gondry going for an unhappy ending. In this respect the film is less problematic and a good deal less gloomy than "Eternal Sunshine ..." and while it will appeal to much the same audience it may not engage them to the same degree. I, in the other hand, succumbed completely and it won me over in much the same way as Woody Allen did with ""Everyone Says I Love You".
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"You have a serious problem of distorting reality."
When we dream, our minds descend into a world that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Though this world is comprised of people and objects that are obviously familiar to us – borrowed from love, friendships, relationships, memories, reminisces and the events of our day – they are employed in a means that is bizarre and otherworldly. However, our brain switches off the part of itself that deals with logic, and so we blindly accept what we are experiencing; are far as we are concerned, it is real, and it is happening to us at this very moment. But what happens if you find yourself dreaming at any hour of the day, whether you're asleep or not? How can you possibly separate what is real from what is imagined? 'La Science des rêves / The Science of Sleep (2006)' is Michel Gondry's follow-up to 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004),' which was undoubtedly one of the most original and inventive films of the twenty-first century.
Stéphane Miroux (Gael García Bernal) is a creative artist whose talent simply goes to waste in the real world. Though he has some clever ideas for a new calender {a slightly politically-incorrect concept called Disasterology}, he is instead left with the mundane, uninspired duty of gluing squares of paper. It is only when he descends into the world of his dreams that Stéphane truly exercises his abilities, hosting his own talk show in a set constructed of cardboard, in which he discusses his life, his friends and his romances. From a very young age, Stéphane has found it difficult to distinguish his dreams from his realities, and, indeed, such is the banality of his existence that the former threatens to take over completely. Living in the apartment next door is Stéphanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg), complementary to Stéphane in so many ways {the similar names are, of course, no coincidence} that, in an ideal world, they would be a couple. Unfortunately, it seems that true life will never be as perfect as our dreams.
Gondry, who began his career producing among the wackiest music videos you'll ever see, has an incredible visual style that is imaginative, innovative and endearing. The special effects were obviously achieved on the cheap – created using everyday household objects and stop-motion – and yet they blend flawlessly into the subconscious meanders of the main character's dreaming mind. The prominent use of hand-held camera-work, though usually used in cinema to simulate realism, achieves the exact opposite in this film, taking us inside Stéphane's confused and distorted perception of the world about him, where imagination and real-life converge into a single, fantastic environment. Though, through my limited experience, most works of surrealism tend to have a cold detachment about them, 'The Science of Sleep' is a warm and involving tale of love, life and friendship, the frequent and peculiar lapses into fantasy demonstrating the significant role that dreams play in recognising and contemplating the major issues inherent in our daily lifestyles.
Though 'The Science of Sleep' lacks the strong leading performers of 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,' and also perhaps the solid narrative of Charlie Kaufman's script {Michel Gondry penned this one himself}, the film is an excellent self-indulgent exploration of the mind's inner workings {and I use the term "self-indulgent" in its most positive form}. Gael García Bernal is quite good in a complex role, and, though his character is a bit pathetic in the way he interacts with the world, he makes for a very funny and likable protagonist. With all its bizarre occurrences, what makes 'The Science of Sleep' such a warm, personal and inviting experience? Maybe it's because the peculiar world that Stéphane creates for himself isn't as unfamiliar as we had initially expected. Afterall, we visit a similar place every night of our lives.
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The science of dreams
Warning: Spoilers
The title of this film should have been translated as "The Science of Dreams", the same as its French title. It makes more sense, in that dreams are always full of possibilities. Most of what we are presented in the picture deals in how Stephane's mind functions and the dreams he so vividly enacts for us.
Michel Gondry's wonderful new film, which he wrote himself, proves he is a man not afraid of showing us this whimsical character, Stephane, who seems to be living in his own magical universe. Mr. Gondry, uses a different technique, getting away from obvious special effects. By having Stephanie making her own kind of art, he blends two different worlds in what appears to be a seamless union. Some comments we have read make Stephane as a crazy young man, when in reality he is a dreamer.
The best way to enjoy this film is to let it envelop you and just let it charm you without any preconceived expectations. Gael Garcia Bernal, who plays Stephane, keeps getting better all the time. He seems to be akin to the material the director wrote for him and he excels as this childlike man who lives in a fantasy world. On the other hand, Charlotte Gainsbourg makes the perfect foil with her Stephanie. She sees what Stephane is like and accepts him, even though their relationship is put to a test. The supporting cast, Alain Chabat, Miou Miou, and Emma DeCaunes, among others, contribute to make this film the charmer it is.
Michel Gondry is a director that always amazes. He proves it with this film.
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Accurate yet touching portrayal of schizophrenia
At first glance this film may seem fluffy, and maybe a bit frou-frou silly like a bad Magical Mystery Tour. But then, if you think about it, remember the fact that it is all from the protagonist's view except for a few scenes other than the very last scene - then you see the beauty of the film as an exposition of what a schizophrenic sees. In that sense, it's much like Donnie Darko except that it is clearer that the events are really not some weird mystical SF-fantasy happenings (I always hated that interpretation of Donnie Darko).
The accuracy of the portrayals is amazing. My wife occasionally sleep-talks and sleepwalks and I can get her to describe her dreams to me exactly the way Stephane does and the distortions in names, reality and personality are eerily similar to what is shown in the film. I've had close friends with paranoid schizophrenia and the unclear divide between reality and delusion depicted is absolutely spot on.
However, it is the heartwarming and heart wrenching story and strong performances that lift this above a mere documentary. By the end we do understand Stephane and appreciate Stephanie and how she is able to connect with him. By using the unfiltered fanciful POV of Stephane to tell the story, we don't see him as some weird creepo but as someone not that much different from ourselves. This is one of the best and most intelligent films I have seen in a very long time and merits repeated viewings.
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Crazy
I'm not talking about me or the vote that I gave the movie ... I'm talking about the movie itself ... it's crazy! But in a good way! At least that's how I saw it. But it really is something that some people won't like at all (the craziness that is).
M. Gondry proves that he can make future films without Charlie Kaufman! His two previous efforts being written (almost) entirely by Mr. Kaufman. Now he steps out of that shadow and shows us how crazy he really can be. This movie shows him playing with the theme of dreams. Is what you see a dream or reality?
You could say it does romanticize a lazy dreamer, but that's not the point. Although the movie does confront you with a few philosophical question, you should try to watch it, to be entertained ... at least the first time around! But beware, if you didn't like any of the following, this movie is not for you!!!
- Eternal Sunshine of the ...
- Human Nature
- Being John Malkovich
- Adaptation
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Weird doesn't always equal good!
Warning: Spoilers
Although I was very enthusiastic about this film before I went to see it, I cannot tell you how disappointed I was when I left the theater. I enjoyed Gondry's ETERNALS SUNSHINE ON A SPOTLESS MIND, because that movie had an interesting story to it. Science of sleep, in my opinion, only exploits the ideas of ESOASM and completely forgets about the story. The so called romantic relationship between the Gainsbourg and the Garcia Bernal character become totally indiscernible due to the dream sequences that Gondry uses to play out all his crazy ideas and new individual techniques of film-making. After half or three quarters if an hour this movie even started to make me angry, because, to me, it seemed just like an incoherent concoction of stupid takes that were meant to be oddly funny. Now, if Gondry wants to be successful, he had better start thinking about story lines and interesting plots instead of spending all his money on the different techniques of film-making. A lot of people in the theater laughed not because the film was funny, but because they wanted to pass off as unconventional moviegoers who are open to anything new. I don't mind new, if it's good, but Gondry is definitely not as revolutionary as he thinks he might be.
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awakened
It's probably hard to find a film which is as much a vision of its creator as this one.
Gondry is doing a great work, exploring the limits of storytelling in cinema. His greatest achievement so far was, "eternal sunshine..." but there he was associated with the even more brilliant Charlie Kaufman, probably the best screenwriter working today. Now we have this 'science of dreams' and the very recent 'Be kind rewind' (which i haven't seen) and we have Kaufman's own 'Synecdoche, New York'. The interesting of taking 'sunshine' and watch it before and after this group of films is to see Kaufman and Gondry working separated, and understand where they are taking, individually, what they started in 'sunshine'. I think they're working on one of the most exciting threads in development in cinema today.
In a way, i think this is a kind of expressionism, in the way that all these films are deeply rooted on lives, real and interesting lives, no matter how fantastic they look, and how unreal everything shows. This is all an attempt to dive in the ocean of human soul, that iceberg of which we can only see a superficial tiny tip. It's great that cinema is doing this. Probably it's one of the most suited medium for that.
In this case, we have a mildly complex visual construction, out of a very simple idea: the mix between dreams and reality and the more interesting concept that, if dreams are a reflex of our daily life mixed with our more dark concerns, life can also be contaminated by dreams. So, life invades dreams, and the other way around as well. Than, we have the device he had already used in sunshine, shading the differences between dream and reality and many times letting the ambiguity on that subject, here diminished in a great degree by the dolls that show in the dreams (objects, phones, cars) and which build the dream environment.
Here we have an extra thing, visits to the interior (literally) of the mind of the main character, making us watch things through his eyes, and think through his mind (he plays the drums, like the director did). Other games include a time machine, which goes forward and backwards 1 second, and a boat with a forest inside it.
Check the clues, check where this leads you. I like it.
My opinion: 4/5
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"It is not attractive for a girl to see a guy crying" (dialog)
A wonderful little film that works on many levels:
1. A mix of live action and animation which instantly puts it in rarified space. Very few films like this have ever been attempted.
2. A Python-esque story coming from ... France? The Brits would be horrified. And it works well.
3. Has the intense dialog and blown-up social comedy that Euro films are known for. That works too.
4. Story is clever, the protagonist has trouble distinguishing between reality and sleep -- a condition, his mother says, he has had since a child. Also works well.
5. Casting is fascinating. The guy played by Gael García Bernal is an Alain Delon look-a-like and everyone in the story knows it. Looking great (in film and I think real life) gives him the right to do outrageous things and get forgiven. But the love interest in this quirky (and fun) rom-com arc is played by Charlotte Gainsbourg who is appealing and simpatico but not conventionally beautiful. Again, this works well.
6. Of course -- you knew this! -- the writer and director are one and the same, Highly creative films like this always are the work of a single creative mind.
A lost gem.
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No imagination, the label is misleading
Warning: Spoilers
Gondry's film tries very hard to be poetic and uplifting. Alas the absence of story makes it a very boring movie. Young guy arrives in Paris from Mexico, a bit of a dreamer, wants a creative job, gets a boring job making calendars. Meets girl next door, falls in love, she does not respond. Eventually they kiss. The dream sequences are supposed to be impressive. The first three sequences are OK, although you have to adhere to the sixties hippie low budget "super 8" look. Then it becomes incredibly repetitive, the same cardboard stop-motion animation over and over again, with cotton bowls for clouds and cellophane for water. That's as poetic and imaginative as it ever gets. When the end credits finally roll, you're left wondering... was that an ending? Did I miss something? You didn't. Bernal and Chabat are very good, not much of a revelation.
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Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0354899/reviews
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