The Science Of Sleep Essay

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

The Science of Sleep, a playful romantic fantasy set inside the topsy-turvy brain of Stephane Miroux (Gael Garcia Bernal) an eccentric young man whose dreams constantly
The film is in a way the penultimate Gondry production: all of the ideas and techniques he's used in his canon collide in what is a 100% Gondry film. It is also somewhat autobiographical, as written by Michel. The film is a mélange of sometimes-magical sequences that mix dreams with reality, and isn't entirely linear or plot-driven. But, anyway, here's the plot..

Stéphane (Gael García Bernal) is a shy young man who has just moved back to his childhood home in France from his home in Mexico, the birthplace of his deceased father. He goes to work at a novelty calendar company, but finds his job stifles his creativity.

A cute and similarly creative young woman named Stéphanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg) moves across the hall from his apartment, and Stéphane soon finds himself attracted to her. His courtship of her becomes turbulent, as he has a hard time separating his dreams from reality.

The film is part French and part English, and was filmed entirely in France - mainly in Paris in a house where Michel lived 15 years ago. It is similar in concept to Michel's Everlong video for the Foo