The Science of Sleep

This movie is a piece of work, but very good. It's a about Stepháne, a.k.a. my love Gael García Bernal, who has issues discerning his dreams from reality, and director Michael Gondry does an incredible job implementing this with every aspect of the movie.

Most noticeably, it's in three languages. The movie goes from French to Spanish to English and back again with almost no transition. The movie also goes from dream to reality to halfway in between with little or no padding. It conveyed to the viewer exactly what kind of confusion Stepháne is feeling.

Next, and as demonstrated in the picture, are the sets. A lot of the movie takes place in a room made of what looks like egg cartons (seen above). It's a TV studio, of sorts, with two windows for Stepháne's eyes and cardboard cameras that Stepháne constantly adjusts as he tries to control things in his life. In his dreams, everything is made of arts-and-crafts supplies that Stepháne (appropriately) could have made himself. He is closest to Stephanie, his neighbor, when they are making little craft... things. I don't know what to call them. Anyway, it demonstrates how he is more able to control and shape things in his dream-like state. Maybe that's why he has trouble getting away from it.

The Science of Sleep is not plot based at all, but instead is a complex blend of character development and amazing artistic achievement with the mis-en-scene and screenplay. It is a portrait much more than it is a biography. Watch it with this in mind, and enjoy.