Director:
Michel Gondry
Studio/Production Company:
Warner Independent Pictures
Genre:
Romance
Sub-Genre:
Fantasy
Length:
Feature
Awards Won:
2007 Cannes Film Festival, UCMF Film Music Award
2007 Chlotrudis Awards, Best Visual Design
2007 Paris Cinema, Audience Award
Website:
http://wip.warnerbros.com/scienceofsleep
Score:
4/5
It can be said (quite accurately) that films are a visual representation of a filmmaker's dreams. In this regard few have taken this notion further than French auteur Michel Gondry. His works are like waking dreams where reality and fantasy are purely subjective and are not so much separate entities as they are equal pieces of a whole. In collaborating with provocateur of the strange extraordinaire Charlie Kaufman in 2004's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind he explored the relationship between memories and reality within the construct of a relationship through its entire spectrum of emotion. With The Science of Sleep he has made a natural progression from those themes entirely in his own voice.
The film follows Stéphane, an aspiring graphic artist/inventor who has a little problem with separating his dreams from reality. Having returned to France for the first time in many years to take a job with a calendar company he moves back in with his mother, meeting her neighbor Stéphanie in the process. While at first he's immediately enamored by her attractive friend Zoe he soon realizes the virtues of Stéphanie as someone who "gets" his quirkiness and a person with he can share his dreams with (literally). What follows is a story about relationships told through the prism of fantasy. While it is simple to say Stéphane takes flights of fancy with his dreams that inform everything that he does and all of his relationships with everyone he comes in contact with, that really doesn't cut to the truth that Gondry is reaching for. Stéphane's dreams are basically a film device that serves to express the very human tendency to escape from direct confrontation, especially personal, in a visually engaging way. His dreams, no matter how over-the-top or fantastic, cut to the core of how all of us think and speak in our personal inner-monologues.
The performances are uniformly great. Gael Garcia Bernal is slowly becoming the Johnny Depp of his generation. He has become the defacto actor for both established auteurs and up-and-comers alike. His range is simply incredible. Actually he is more an actor in the mold of Tadanobu Asano but for the western world.
Ever the cinematic magician, Gondry employs practically every trick in his book to create Stéphane's world. Stop-motion, chroma keys, screened backgrounds, in-camera editing, et al are employed to great effect. It's refreshing to see someone not relying on computer effects and is instead taking a utilitarian approach. It's safe to say no one in the world is making films this way making it all the more admirable and affective.
This isn't a film for everyone. While hilarious it's by no means a conventional comedy. Though romantic and emotional it's hardly a traditional drama. The Science of Sleep is very much an art film that seeks to challenge its audience. It speaks to viewers in a personal vernacular that will lead to a multitude of interpretations unique to each individual. Where you are in your life creatively, emotionally, and even spiritually interplay with the film as an active participant in the narrative. Much like Stéphane's visual tricks the audience ultimately is involved in a visual trick of the highest order: we are moved and hopefully inspired.
Michel Gondry
Studio/Production Company:
Warner Independent Pictures
Genre:
Romance
Sub-Genre:
Fantasy
Length:
Feature
Awards Won:
2007 Cannes Film Festival, UCMF Film Music Award
2007 Chlotrudis Awards, Best Visual Design
2007 Paris Cinema, Audience Award
Website:
http://wip.warnerbros.com/scienceofsleep
Score:
4/5
It can be said (quite accurately) that films are a visual representation of a filmmaker's dreams. In this regard few have taken this notion further than French auteur Michel Gondry. His works are like waking dreams where reality and fantasy are purely subjective and are not so much separate entities as they are equal pieces of a whole. In collaborating with provocateur of the strange extraordinaire Charlie Kaufman in 2004's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind he explored the relationship between memories and reality within the construct of a relationship through its entire spectrum of emotion. With The Science of Sleep he has made a natural progression from those themes entirely in his own voice.
The film follows Stéphane, an aspiring graphic artist/inventor who has a little problem with separating his dreams from reality. Having returned to France for the first time in many years to take a job with a calendar company he moves back in with his mother, meeting her neighbor Stéphanie in the process. While at first he's immediately enamored by her attractive friend Zoe he soon realizes the virtues of Stéphanie as someone who "gets" his quirkiness and a person with he can share his dreams with (literally). What follows is a story about relationships told through the prism of fantasy. While it is simple to say Stéphane takes flights of fancy with his dreams that inform everything that he does and all of his relationships with everyone he comes in contact with, that really doesn't cut to the truth that Gondry is reaching for. Stéphane's dreams are basically a film device that serves to express the very human tendency to escape from direct confrontation, especially personal, in a visually engaging way. His dreams, no matter how over-the-top or fantastic, cut to the core of how all of us think and speak in our personal inner-monologues.
The performances are uniformly great. Gael Garcia Bernal is slowly becoming the Johnny Depp of his generation. He has become the defacto actor for both established auteurs and up-and-comers alike. His range is simply incredible. Actually he is more an actor in the mold of Tadanobu Asano but for the western world.
Ever the cinematic magician, Gondry employs practically every trick in his book to create Stéphane's world. Stop-motion, chroma keys, screened backgrounds, in-camera editing, et al are employed to great effect. It's refreshing to see someone not relying on computer effects and is instead taking a utilitarian approach. It's safe to say no one in the world is making films this way making it all the more admirable and affective.
This isn't a film for everyone. While hilarious it's by no means a conventional comedy. Though romantic and emotional it's hardly a traditional drama. The Science of Sleep is very much an art film that seeks to challenge its audience. It speaks to viewers in a personal vernacular that will lead to a multitude of interpretations unique to each individual. Where you are in your life creatively, emotionally, and even spiritually interplay with the film as an active participant in the narrative. Much like Stéphane's visual tricks the audience ultimately is involved in a visual trick of the highest order: we are moved and hopefully inspired.