Michel, my belle, you have done it again

By Kylie Wakefield
Collegian Staff
October 4, 2006

Michel Gondry never fails to visually impress his beloved viewers. He’s done it with his wide range of music videos (from working with artists like The White Stripes and Björk) and his past films with the ever-so-kooky Charlie Kaufman. His latest feature, The Science Of Sleep, is no exception.

Stéphane, who is played by Mexican heartthrob Gael García Bernal, is an awkward 20-something who has trouble separating his dreams from reality. His mother (played by Miou-Miou) decides that he should return to Paris, so she gets him a dead-end job gluing words on calendars. He fails to sell his idea for a calendar called “Disasterology” to his boss, which includes illustrations of worldly tragedies for every month.

Stéphane feels trapped in his uncreative workplace, until a beautiful girl named Stéphanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg) moves next door and captivates his interest. She pokes fun at him as he stumbles over his understanding of the French language, but he could not love her more. Gondry could have stopped here and made his film into a typical love story, but then again, he’s too much of a genius to do that.

Throughout The Science of Sleep, Stéphane delves in and out of his subconscious, and it’s not always clear what’s really going on. He hosts his own show called “Stéphane TV,” where he cooks up dreams using special food ingredients and plays his own songs on a drum set, and shoots it all using a cardboard camera. In his dreams, his greatest fantasies, his worst fears and his hopes for life are manifested. He becomes head of his company, speaks to his dead father and Stéphanie falls in love with him when he’s in his own alternate universe.

Stéphane is not just a dreamer — he is also an inventor. Gondry seems to take all of his imaginative ideas for inventions and put them into this film. There’s a pair of 3D glasses that makes environments even more surreal, a time machine that can go seconds into the past or future and a pair of helmets that transfer thoughts. Stéphane tries to impress Stéphanie by using his inventions on her, but she cannot be converted.

The Science Of Sleep is like a dream in itself. Gondry always does a fabulous job placing the viewer in his characters’ shoes. The sequences feature stunning stop motion animation and a great soundtrack as well.

The dialogue is funny, especially when characters stumble over their unfamiliar dialects (Stéphane, for example, says “schizometric” instead of “schizophrenic”). The viewer really grows to love Stéphane, either out of empathy or just because Bernal is good at playing an attractive oddball.

But, at times, all of the sequences can get tiring. While they are beautifully done, they tend to take away from the actual plot. When reality does actually occur, the viewer finds him/herself wondering how that point was reached. This can also get a bit frustrating for those who like linear plot lines.

In the end, though, Gondry does get the point across. The story isn’t another “happily ever after” tale of romance and longing. No, it’s much more true to life (in some ironic, twisted way). The Science Of Sleep is funny, moving and only a little disorienting. It’s much better than most directors’ first bouts with writing full-length features, and it’s not too self-indulgent. Gondry has produced better work with Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Human Nature,/i>), but either way, he still makes infinitely interesting films.

The Science Of Sleep is for the dreamer, the romantic and the artist in us all.

wakefieldk1@lasalle.edu

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