The Science of Sleep

Gael Garcia
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Directed by: Michel Gondry

Independent films generally have a knack for being a little bit odd or different. They don’t follow the recipe for the Hollywood norm when it comes to protagonists, antagonists or happy endings. Sometimes they spew the philosophy of the filmmaker and try to make the audience think instead of being an easily predictable movie. The Science of Sleep definitely isn’t that predictable, doesn’t really have a conclusive ending and is one of the most bizarre and unusual films I’ve ever seen as it takes a weird cue from The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour.

Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) wrote and directed this unique tale that takes place in France and combines French, English and a little bit of Spanish throughout the story with a lot of subtitles. It stars Gael Garcia Bernal as Stephane, a young man who has returned to France from Mexico after his father has died. He moves into his mother’s apartment (Miou-Miou) in a building that she owns. She has gotten him a job at a company that makes calendars. His dream is to be a creative artist for the calendars, but once there he learns that he is basically doing layouts with the lettering for a bunch of photos produced elsewhere.

Meanwhile, he gets a new neighbor named Stephanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg).  After an accident with her piano he befriends her and her friend Zoe (Emma de Caunes). He originally falls for Zoe, but soon finds himself falling for Stephanie. The only problem is, Stephane has a problem distinguishing his dream world from reality. This causes a lot of problems because he makes some regrettable blunders while awake, thinking he’s asleep. He has an overactive imagination and comes up with some interesting inventions and ideas, but his two worlds collide. It affects his work and his social life. Whether he gets the girl of his dreams or not is up in the air like cottony clouds.

The Science of Sleep makes use of many artistic styles with stop-motion animation, possibly some CGI, cardboard cities and cars, cellophane rivers
(“Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” anyone?), mechanical stuffed horses and forests in cloth boats. Did I mention this wasn’t the norm? It also shows a remarkably unique vision of what goes on in Stephane’s head, much like a TV show that he’s hosting showing his life the way he would like for it to play out.

There is some brief nudity and some mature language, but it’s not too vulgar. This movie won’t appeal to everyone, but if you’re game for something different, this is the film to see.
 

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