In the end, there's so very much that's charming and inventive about Gondry's highly personal film that you're willing to forgive its storytelling lapses and immerse yourself in The Science of Sleep.
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09/22/06
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The Science of Sleep (2006)
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Reviews Counted:152
Fresh:105
Rotten:47
Average Rating:6.6/10
Consensus: Lovely and diffuse, Sleep isn't as immediately absorbing as Gondry's previous work, but its messy beauty is its own reward.
Theatrical Release:Sep 22, 2006 Limited
Box Office: $4,572,038
Synopsis: For his first non-documentary film after 2004's ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, French writer/director Michel Gondry applies his highly inventive cinematic vision to THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP.... [More]
Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Miou-Miou, Alain Chabat
Director: Michel Gondry
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Reviews for The Science of Sleep
Gondry's vision is a little more hermetic than Kaufman's, as well as less cynical and world-wise. Those differences give The Science of Sleep an air of breathless wonder, but they also make it feel a little immature as well.
09/22/06
The movie does have a dreamlike quality. But it's like one of those dreams where you're late for work and you can't find your shoes.
09/22/06
Top CriticA charming, inventive, ambitious, surreal mess.
09/22/06
Top CriticWith Science, [Gondry] conjures up some of the most surreal visual images you'll see in a movie this year.
09/22/06
The soul of Gondry’s work, it seems to me, is neither its soaring flights of visual fancy nor its sometimes crude slapstick, but rather its pained understanding of a generation hopelessly tongue-tied when it comes to matters of the heart.
09/22/06
The Science Of Sleep is a collection of lovely little moments and inspired effects with not much holding them together.
09/22/06
[Gondry] understands the bittersweet pleasures of unrequited love, how love unattained is always love untainted. Possibility perpetually exists. Dream logic? Perhaps.
09/22/06
That the film does not have a coherent narrative to sustain it is not as unforgivable as the fact that there is no emotional entry point.
09/22/06
It remains a testament to the triumphant nature of Gondry's imagination that reality in this movie feels less real than the fantasies. You're encouraged to mistake one for the other. In some circles, that's called cinema.
09/22/06
Top CriticThe most definitive, most expressive, most imaginative, most thorough, most beautiful cinematic cogitation of romance, ever. And a big middle finger to everyone who disagrees.
09/22/06
Ultimately, The Science Of Sleep is about the dividing line between whimsy and simple immaturity.
09/22/06
A decent portrait of a shy man whose dreams liberatehim from the everyday.
09/22/06
The film has no shape, but while we watch, Gondy makes sure we're lovingly distracted with his individual, inventive moments.
09/22/06
Michel Gondry's introverted and untethered whimsy becomes oppressive, and very quickly boring. ... 'The Science of Sleep' drifts away into woozy inconsequence.
09/22/06
Michael Gondry seems to know what he is doing, layering the Gael Garcia Bernal charm factor with some edge.
09/22/06
...without screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, Gondry is more stylistic flash than substance.
09/22/06
Gondry seems preoccupied by his technical wizardry rather than making sure his story is keeping perfect time.
09/21/06
[Its] surreal reach is unfettered, and as with Stephane's dreams it defies its own boundaries, mirroring a distressed human being's attempt to get a grip on wildly passionate emotions.
09/21/06
one of those movies art house lovers will champion, but the film drives me mad with efforts that end up being too cute by half, if they were ever cute in the first place.
09/21/06
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