The Science of Sleep (2006)
Average Rating: 6.7/10
Reviews Counted: 157
Fresh: 111 | Rotten: 46
Lovely and diffuse, Sleep isn't as immediately absorbing as Gondry's previous work, but its messy beauty is its own reward.
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Critic Reviews: 39
Fresh: 26 | Rotten: 13
Lovely and diffuse, Sleep isn't as immediately absorbing as Gondry's previous work, but its messy beauty is its own reward.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 137,084
Movie Info
Inventive Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director Michel Gondry takes a surreal trip through the mind of an introverted but wildly creative man whose attempts to balance his colorful dreams with his stark reality are complicated by the arrival of a beautiful woman into his life. Shy St (C)phane (Gael Garca Bernal) has returned to his childhood hometown to accept a new job. When the prospective employment offer fails to live up to expectations, however, St (C)phane is at least comforted by
Watch It Now
Cast
-
Gael García Bernal
Stephane Miroux -
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Stephanie -
Alain Chabat
Guy -
Miou-Miou
Christine Miroux -
Emma de Caunes
Zoé, Zoé, Zo? -
Sacha Bourdo
Serge -
Aurelia Petit
Martine -
Pierre Vaneck
Monsieur Pouchet -
Stephane Metzger
Sylvain -
Decourt Moyen
Gerard -
ADVERTISEMENT
All Critics (164) | Top Critics (42) | Fresh (111) | Rotten (46) | DVD (18)
In the moment, Gondry and Bernal almost manage to give quirky a good name.
Top CriticThe movie plays like an exhausted hallucination, disjointed and frustrating, much of it owing to the lack of chemistry Gondry allows between his stars.
In the end, after your time with it, you'll recall it with a smile, remembering its childish wonderment and mischievous sense of humor.
It's all very cosmopolitan (the dialogue is English, French and Spanish), very independent, a wee bit juvenile and very confusing, of course. But The Science of Sleep is also remarkably magical and desperately romantic beneath it all.
The whimsy Gondry whips up soon goes wispy as we wait in vain for all this sweet-natured silliness to reveal a meaning that isn't transparently obvious.
Gondry's creative breeze of a movie is fun while it lasts, and that's more than you can say about a whole lot of movies.
More amazing work from Gondry. If you're interested in a basic narrative, look away; if you prize inventive filmmaking, don't miss it.
The Science Of Sleep is truly a delight at times, a startlingly original piece of work that's not as accessible as Eternal Sunshine but is every bit as magnificent when in full flow.
It's kind of weird and very French, but don't let that scare you. The Science of Sleep is well worth your time.
A nightmare
It's not that The Science of Sleep is a terrible film. It's not. It's just that it doesn't operate properly and there's nothing worse than seeing a film in which obvious design and potential is ultimately unfulfilled.
Something like a Luis Bunuel film, but with politics replaced by fashion. It is, essentially, a hipster wet dream.
A visual treat from beginning to end.
A wondrously baffling jigsaw puzzle where dreams and reality struggle to find a fit, The Science of Sleep is the dream you wish you could have, if you could only remember it
A creative, original work by a filmmaker with a fantastic visual flair who refuses to stick to any typical cinematic patterns, even if it's sometimes to a fault.
The Science of Sleep is Gondry's loosest, most confident movie journey into the imaginative mind.
Another comic love story that takes us inside a character's psyche, but Kaufman's rock-solid jokes are replaced by whimsy.
Gondry always manages to maintain a childlike wonder in the magic of creating a moving image, and never is it more evident than in this film.
It's whimsical to the point of maddening. Bernal does his best, but there's only so much fawning any man can get away with.
It's all lovely to look at, but becomes progressively wearisome.
Dreams are easy to invent, and as easy to forget. The real challenge is to invent stories that have a stake in logic as well as truth.
A thwarted love story that does not trade in the degraded cliches either of romance or conventional sexiness.
There's a very thin line between amusingly quirky and just plain pretentious. I'd say this falls somewhere in the middle.
As the movie progresses, we're presented with one of the best portrayals of the innate awkwardness of first love I can ever remember seeing.
Beautifully directed, charmingly surreal and genuinely romantic, this is the perfect offbeat date movie and easily one of the best films of the year.
Audience Reviews for The Science of Sleep
Super Reviewer
what's so fun to watch gael garcia pretends there's an explosion within his drawings? are you just five-year-old?
Super Reviewer
-
- Stephane Miroux: The brain is the most complex thing in the universe and it's right behind the nose.
-
- Stephanie: Randomness is very difficult to achieve. Organization always merges back if you don't pay attention.
-
- Stephane Miroux: Would you marry me when we are seventy? You have nothing to lose.
-
- Stephane Miroux: This girl is at once all the women that broke my heart. She is so beautiful and generous and she is asking me to leave because she is dumping me. She is dumping me because I am a cheap drug dealer. And I am a drug dealer because she wants to leave me.
-
- Stephanie: Things will turn out the way you want, if you could just stop doubting that I love you. Call me home.
-
- Serge: A heart that sighs has not what its desire.
Discussion Forum
There are no discussion threads for The Science of Sleep yet.
What's Hot On RT
Pictures from a zombie nation
Woody Allen in San Francisco
Naomi Watts stars as Princess Di
Where does This Is the End rank?
Latest News on The Science of Sleep
February 21, 2008:
Box Office Guru Preview: Vantage Point Aims For #1 DebutA terrorist attack is played out through multiple perspectives in the high-octane political thriller...
January 10, 2007:
Golden Tomato Awards: "Casino Royale," "The Queen" Best-Reviewed of 2006The 8th Annual Golden Tomato Awards were announced today, and "Casino Royale" and...
October 9, 2006:
Box Office Wrapup: Leo and Matt Face Off at #1 with The DepartedMartin Scorsese scored the best opening of his career, and his first number one film in fifteen...
Fresh Links
Featured
Movie: ID: 263042951 Title: The Science of Sleep Release Date: 2006-06-18 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 4 Status: 1
Family Movie Mistakes
Even the best family entertainment experiences a few blunders now and then...
The Looks of Johnny Depp
To celebrate the star's birthday, BuzzSugar looks at the many faces of Johnny Depp.
10 Egregious Product Placements
Rolling Stone wonders if The Internship goes too far... then provides 10 examples of movies that did.
10 Bad Movies That Look Great
Sometimes even terrible movies can be beautiful; here are 10 of them, from HitFix.
50 Most Classic Movie Moms
In celebration of Mother's Day, TimeOut offers up 50 iconic matriarchs from the big screen.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Featured on RT
- In Pictures: Zombie Nation! 0
- Video Interviews with Cast & Crew of Monsters University 0
- Digital Multiplex: 21 & Over, Quartet, and More 3
- RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Jack the Giant Slayer and Quartet 23
- Box Office Guru Wrapup: Man of Steel Sets June Record 108
- Weekly Ketchup: Man of Steel Sequel In the Works 199
- Five Favorite Films with Joss Whedon 133
Top Headlines
-
Has Brad Pitt Ever Made a Successful Blockbuster?
0
-
Pacific Rim Set Visit Report
0
-
Shailene Woodley Cut from Amazing Spider-Man 2
0
-
Star Wars Casting Breakdown Reportedly Leaks
0
-
Universal Picks Up Dumb and Dumber To
0
-
Sam Taylor-Johnson Directing Fifty Shades of Grey
0
-
The Logan's Run Remake Has a New Writer
0
Foreign Titles
- Science of Sleep - Anleitung zum Träumen (DE)
- The Science of Sleep (UK)
