In association with

The Science Of Sleep [2006]
from Warner Home Video
starring Miou Miou, Gael Garcia Bernal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alain Chabat
directed by Michel Gondry

Features:

• Anamorphic
• PAL

Editorial Review:

The Science of Sleep concerns the flirtations and misunderstandings of Stéphane (played by Gael García Bernal), an aspiring visual artist, and Stéphanie (played by Charlotte Gainsbourg), his Parisian neighbour who creates whimsical sculptures from cotton balls and felt. As Stéphane toils in a caustic office for a company that makes calendars, he retreats into his dreams and finds them increasingly hard to distinguish from reality, and vice-versa.

The French magician and director Georges Méliès was arguably the first master of special effects, filling the silent movie houses of the early 20th century with camera trickery that stunned and delighted audiences. A century later, Michel Gondry works very much in the spirit of his artistic predecessor and countryman, creating films and music videos that feel just as hand-crafted and visually fantastical. The Science of Sleep is a trilingual film, with dialogue spoken in French, English, and Spanish by characters who are very much global citizens, crossing boundaries of consciousness as easily as they cross boundaries of culture. Gondry decorates his love story with deliberately low-tech special effects, including cellophane made to look like bath water and a subconscious television studio constructed largely of corrugated cardboard. This is filmmaking with all the seams and stitches exposed, an appreciation for the patent falseness of films that nonetheless transport and enchant us. It's dreamy. --Ryan Boudinot

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

• Recommended
  I really enjoyed this film. The whole film looks great. I love how they blend being awake with being asleep. Really good dialog, I thoroughly recommend seeing this film.

• Disappointing
  i bought this film on the strength of Eternal Sunshine but am left so disappointed - took three stabs to watch it in entirety. Best parts were the closing frames (as illustrated on the DVD sleeve) and closing soundtrack. A letdown.

• A Mess
  I loved Human Nature and Eternal Sunshine but since then it's been a rapid decline in my eyes, reaching new depths with Be Kind Rewind which was beyond awful...without a Kaufmann script Michel Gondry appears to be unable to fashion anything himself outside of music video slapstick. This is an irritatingly wacky idea that's been drawn out into a film - lame half-characters I didn't care about speaking banal dialog to each other. I went into the cinema with great enthusiasm but this was too much pop video,... more info

• Confusing at times, but beautiful to behold.
  I thought this movie was really beautiful. It was intensely creative and explored many ideas at once. The only quip i have with it is that i felt at times the line between shephane's dreams and real life was too blurred, and to that end its hard to make out a story line. As a matter of fact the whole experience of the film (id go so far as to call it an experience) was very much like a dream, in that thinking back on it now, i can only remember small details, little quirks and emotions and romances, and... more info

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