Review: The Science of Sleep (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