The Science of Sleep | Review

Gondry’s dream factory is open for business.

Filmmakers such as Michel Gondry come from a singular pedigree. Not surprisingly, fans of the French multi-platform (video/film/commercials) director can expect more of the same – sheer delight cometh in the form of zany contraptions, off-the-wall humor, quirky character interactions and delirious invention via the mediums of film and video. What makes this perhaps his best work to date (certainly as entertaining as mind-bending as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) is that along with the fusion of visual sensations, here belongs an honest depiction of human psyche, The Science of Sleep shares in the frailty, rejection and isolation caused by misfired arrows from cupid’s bow.

It happens to the best of us – boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, girl really not that all interested in boy. Exploring the relationships amid the matters, not only in terms of physics, science and the psychosis but the relations between the sexes, Gondry’s script layout picks up on the novel idea that while it sometimes clicks for some, it may not be the case for others. Serving as an urban backdrop, the personality of Parisian apartments and a cast made up of French actors (including a generous comedic relief from Alain Chebat), this delves out and into the reality and dream world states of an aspiring design artist bursting with creativeness and an overworked imagination. Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal sports an accent which is 70 percent broken English, 25 percent broken French, 5 percent native Spanish during those crucial moments of anxiety. The storyline looks at how both dream and nightmare worlds contribute in both aiding, and obstructing in the resolve of his personal issues and his maligned boyish attempt at romantically connecting with a French girl (Charlotte Gainsbourg – 21 Grams) who also happens to be his neighbor.

Symbols from his video work such as stop animation, childhood traumas (see: giant hands), toys and The White Stripes are all part of the rotation, but here Gondry reveals a little more of himself – perhaps an autobiographical account close to his own past as the protagonist’s family name which is ‘Miroux’ happens to close in appellation to ‘miroir’ or mirror in English.

The film’s kinetic and nervous energy that follows throughout will charm the dickens out of art-house crowds and much of the film’s appeal will come from Gondry’s own creative blender. The originality of the set pieces, his manipulation of the medium and the too numerous to count ideas such as a calendar that depicts disasters in human civilization or a kitchen sink that flushes out a different kind of Evian shows that the helmer less of a recycler and more of an idea maker.

With zero CGI and a couple of looping sequences that would drive mainstream viewers packing, The Science of Sleep is a film that addresses the notion of an unhealthy crush – a fixture which will surely not be the case for Gondry-fans.

Sundance 2006.

Rating 4 stars