The Science of Sleep Review
by samseescinema (sammeriam AT comcast DOT net)September 25th, 2006
The Science of Sleep
Reviewed by Sam Osborn
Director: Michel Gondry
Screenplay: Michel Gondry
Cast: Gael Garcia Bernal, Charlotte Gainsbourg
MPAA Classification: R (language, some sexual content and nudity)
The Science of Sleep is as sweet as honeydew. It's a delicious stab wound in reality, where quirk and awkward humor ooze out by the gallon. In the confusion that remains, Director/Writer Michel Gondry manages to cobble together a petite song of two humans. It's a scrambled little diddy, but its notes ring true and bizarre, and scratch the Charlie Kaufman itch that was left behind from Eternal Sunshine and the Spotless Mind.
Instead of Jim Carrey from Eternal Sunshine we get Gael Garcia Bernal; and instead of memory we delve into dreams. Sure, the two films work on the same principles. But the principles are so good that nobody has the heart to care. Anyway, The Science of Sleep does run on different fuel than Eternal Sunshine and their differences are often apparent.
Stephane (Gael Garcia Bernal) has recently arrived in Paris, coming from his deceased father's home in Mexico to live with his mother as the landlady's son. He's in his early twenties--still with his boyish wits about him--and yearning to be an illustrator. The job his mom lands him at a calendar company isn't especially rewarding, as he's made to glue the text to the calendar's pages. But the offbeat banter his three strange co-workers work up is another clean outlet for Gondry's wacky humor to shine. Soon he meets Stephanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg) from across the hall and forms a kind of crush. Stephanie is as eccentric as he is, agreeing to make a home movie about the vegetable version of Noah's Ark they'll create out of household arts and crafts, and the chemistry they form is all quirk and fringe oddity.
Explaining the plot using its main story points, it seems, has resulted in making the film seem terrible and plodding. Whatever holds this film together isn't made of real nuts and real bolts. Dreams are the real power of its construction and distort the film into a beautiful confusion of unreality. Stephane has the tricky issue of confusing dreams and consciousness. He wakes up at one point to his feet frosted, resting in a freezer at the foot of his bed after having dreamed a pleasant day of skiing on the slopes. As Eternal Sunshine's fascination with memories formed an ever-deepening portrait of Joel and his past, Stephane's dreams work to show what's tinkering with his imagination. Sometimes he dreams of taking over the office in a coup de grace, ruling over his workers and exploding the solar system in the process. Other times he speaks to his imagination's version of Stephanie, and asks her the proper way of forwarding their
relationship.
Also like Eternal Sunshine, Gondry renders all these surreal moments without the use of CGI. As Stephane and Stephanie want to make Noah's Ark out of arts and crafts, so too does Gondry want to make his movie of egg crates and cardboard. It's a jolt of originality that's only natural in a film of such odd characters and proportions. The sets and creations are beautiful though, in their first grade art class sort of way. So beautiful, in fact, that a gallery has been set up here in Manhattan that exhibits them as works of art.
The two characters' relationship on paper is a thunderstorm mess of misfired actions. But the film works and works indelibly well. Its how a daydream can bleed into reality and, in our busy heads, still make sense. We understand Stephane and Stephanie's relationship in the way understanding is formed through a series of misunderstandings. And the ending, it must be said, is as concise and perfect as poetry. It leaves us on the finest of notes, saying to ourselves what a strange and awkwardly sweet film this is.
Rating: 3.5 out of 4
-Sam Osborn
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