| Product: |
The Science of Sleep (DVD) |
| Date: |
18.08.07 (146 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: Surreal, different and visually impressive
Disadvantages: Story is just crazy
Gael Garcia Benal is fast becoming a heart throb amongst the discerning female audience who have managed to catch any of his films; Bad Education, The King, Motorcycle Diaries amongst them.
This time around he teams up with avant garde music video director, and the man behind ‘Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind’, Michel Gondry. Anyone who has seen any of videos he directed (Bjork and Kylie amongst the artists he has created for) will know what a bizarre and surreal artistic mind he has.
Science of Sleep is a French made film, though unusually for them the majority of the dialogue is in English. It is also one of the most unusual romance films you will ever see! I thought fellow French romantic comedy ‘Love Me If You Dare’ would take some beating for surreal story, downright odd story development and crazy scenes but Science of Sleep beats it hands down. I guess the best description of the movie is that off romantic fantasy.
The plot is simple, Stephane has moved back to France, from South America, at the behest of his mother. She has found him a job and wants him to stay in an apartment she has in the city. He moves in and meets his next door neighbour, Stephanie, a young woman he immediately falls for. She likes him to but his eccentricities and unstable connection to reality may prevent them from finding out how they really feel about each other.
Stephane lives his life on the edge of reality and dreams. He is constantly dreaming, but to him his dreams are real. When he finds it hard to put some typesetting in place for a calendar at work it is not because it is particularly hard but because he finds it boring and in his fantastic imagination his hands have grown to ten times their normal size and he cant actually get hold of the lettering he needs to use. He dreams of cardboard cities and cellophane water coming out of taps, the problem is too much of his time is spent in the dream/fantasy compared to the real one.
Confusingly he seems to have a shared dream world with Stephanie as she occasionally seems to see the same sort of things he does. Whether this is because it is all part of his fantasy or if it’s because she is dreaming with him.
Science of Sleep is such a mix of surreal visual images and normal reality that at some stages it is very hard to unravel exactly what is real and what isn’t, in fact at times to even know what on earth is going on. The romance between the similarly named Stephane and Stephanie is reasonably straightforward, it is the side stepping into the fantastical imagination of Stephane that not only confuses the viewer but also raises the film above the norm.
The dreams, the fantasies and the visions that inhabit Stephanes live are a feast for your eyes. Very rarely do you see a film that is so visual and I think that is the only way to take Science of Sleep, enjoy the quirky, colourful images and let the actual story drop into the background. Enjoy the childlike nature of Stephane, his attempts at romance and how his enthusiasm spreads to those around him.
Science of Sleep is a film with minimal appeal but is such a joy to watch if you want to take the chance on the sheer strangeness of it! It is a one of a kind movie, you are unlikely to see anything at all like it again.
Gondry has certainly advanced his directorial career with this and has shown that he also is a writer of quality as well. It will certainly be worth keeping an eye out for whatever he comes up with next, in either creative endeavour.
The same can be said for Benal as well, once again he acts up a storm and shows he can manage almost any kind of style of acting. I’ve loved him in everything I’ve seen him in and again will be waiting for his next starring role.
Even though Charlotte Gainsburg has a big role in the film as Stephanie she doesn’t really stand a chance as the film is all Benal’s. She does a good job as the foil for his dreams and crazy antics but Benal is the star and what holds the film together. Everyone else doesn’t really matter, after all most of the film is his fantasies so who’s to say she isn’t as well?
Summary: A one of a kind adventure
|
|
