The Science of Sleep (2006, French)

Michel Gondry’s The Science of Sleep is like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind redux, only featuring crazier visuals and poorer writing. Gondry seems to be an example of the type of director who should never be allowed to write films on his own – with Charlie Kaufman, he has been able to make a couple of weird but cohesive films, but once on his own, everything begins to fall apart.

Gael García Bernal plays Stéphane, in love with his next-door neighbor Stéphanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg), who alternately welcomes and spurns his advances. Stéphane is the prototypical creative man-child, reeling from the recent death of his father and almost psychotically unable to divorce dreams from reality. And the dreams are lovely – Gondry is quite naturally at his best in such a narrative-free, visually delightful setting. But when it’s time to wake up, the movie rapidly begins to make no sense at all, featuring awkward time jumps and an ending so cobbled together and unresolved that it’s quite obvious the director had no idea quite how to wrap everything up.

García Bernal tries his best, and it’s to his credit that Stéphane is not a totally unlikable character. Unfortunately, it’s easy to see the strain on the actor as he tries to make a character come to life with very little to work with. This is not to say that The Science of Sleep is a total loss – again, the visuals alone are worth a viewing, and Gondry does very well with the texture of certain scenes. The second encounter between Stéphane and Stéphanie is particularly delightful, as the excitement of two creative people coming together hits all the right notes. Unfortunately, without anything greater to hang his film upon, Gondry leaves his audience without any feeling of emotional resonance, which is particularly unfortunate for a film about love.