Film Review: The Science Of Sleep (2006) D

Dated Viewed: 5/30/07
Venue: DVD

Music video director Michael Gondry impressed me with 2004's delightfully weird Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (although many would be quick to attribute that film's qualities to Charlie Kaufman's quirky screenplay). Well, The Science Of Sleep, written by Gondry, is entirely, and unfortunately, his baby.

Stephane (Gael García Bernal) is a half Mexican, half French artist who moves back to France after his father's death to take a job designing calendars. It turns out the gig isn't as creative as it sounds, as Stephane finds himself merely handling text placement and putting up with his bickering co-workers. Stephane escapes his everyday world in his dreams, where we see his fertile imagination at work in the form of his own TV show (with cameras, sets, and props colorfully cobbled together out of everyday items), where Gondry utilizes a great deal of stop-motion animation and imaginative camerawork to supply the fanciful images.

Stephane eventually becomes romantically interested in his neighbor Stephanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg), and two have several playful adventures fueled by Stephane's creative impulses. But Stephane, due to his mercurial and unpredictable nature, becomes trapped in the dreaded 'friend zone' and struggles with bouts of depression and love-struck anguish.

I'm sure Gondry drew heavily upon his own life to create Stephane and his dilemmas (I'm positive Gondry's dreams, just like Stephane's, inform his strange visual creations), but while people tend to think of themselves as the protagonist in their own personal struggles, that doesn't necessarily translate when your tale has an audience. What I'm trying to say is that Stephane isn't a very strong protagonist, he's indecisive, conflicted, and stop-motion visions aside, not terribly interesting. But I'm sure to Gondry, with whom Stephane probably has a lot in common, he's a facinating and captivating character.

The Science Of Sleep fails because it can't find a way to make Stephane a memorable, engaging, or even sympathetic character, and no matter how you dress up it up, that's a death knell to any film that tackes one's internal strife.