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Stephen DauStephen Dau's The Book of Jonas is a marvelous, lyrical debut that examines the effects of war on everyone involved. Dau weaves together the stories... Continue »
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    The Book of Jonas

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The Science of Sleep

The Science of Sleep Cover

ISBN13: 00085391137740
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

The Science of Sleep, a playful romantic fantasy set inside the topsy-turvy brain of Stephane Miroux (Gael Garcia Bernal) an eccentric young man whose dreams constantly invade his waking life.

While slumbering, he is the charismatic host of "Stephane TV," expounding on the science of sleep in front of cardboard cameras. In "real life," he has a boring job at a Parisian calendar publisher and pines for Stephanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg), the girl in the apartment across the hall. While Stephanie is initially charmed by Stephane, she is confused by his childishness and shaky connection to reality. Stephanes co-worker, Guy (Alain Chabat) a vulgar but practical man, offers advice on the opposite sex, but Stephane is too far in the clouds to listen. Unable to find the secret to Stephanie's heart while awake, Stephane searches for the answer in his dreams.

Written and directed by Michel Gondry, the boundlessly inventive creator of award-winning films (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), music videos and commercials. The Science of Sleep is a whimsical trip into a cut-and-paste wonderland fashioned from cardboard tubes, cellophane, and imagination.

Review:

"It's a textural mindblower and a lot of fun." Hollywood Reporter

Review:

"Nothing much happens, but a lot goes on. It perfectly captures the feeling of what it's like to be young, creative, lost, idealistic and maladjusted, and it recognizes the overlap between the urge to create things and the longing for love." Los Angeles Times

Review:

"Sweet, crazy, and tinged with sadness, Michel Gondry's new feature The Science of Sleep is a wondrous concoction." Village Voice

Review:

"Michel Gondry's beguiling new film is so profoundly idiosyncratic, and so confident in its oddity, that any attempt to describe it is bound to be misleading." New York Times

Review:

"Gondry's hallucinatory brilliance holds you in thrall." Rolling Stone
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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
Grady Harp, February 11, 2007 (view all comments by Grady Harp)
A Magical Bon-Bon from Michel Gondry

The French have a way with films that tinker with reality, fantasy, illusions, and delusions and the result of those traits have produced some of the most exciting and avant garde films ever made. Michel Gondry has inherited the mantle from Cocteau, Resnais, etc and runs with it in this charming little diversion of a film THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP.

Gondry is primarily a visual artist and tells his stories in a visual manner, but that is not to say his stories are superficial or trivial: he has a preoccupation with the thin line between reality and non-reality, between dream and diurnal creativity, and it is this space that occupies his mind, his pen, his camera, and his mission in this little tale.

Stéphane Miroux (the enormously gifted, dedicated and hunky Gael García Bernal) is a true 'artist', a young man whose father is Mexican and whose mother is French, and he has entered Paris to begin a job his mother Christine (Miou-Miou) assures him is creative: it actually is a boring, restricting graphic design outfit (though populated by some zany confrères including Guy played beautifully by Alain Chabat who allows to run with his idea of publishing a calendar whose months are pictured by world disasters!) that at first defeats Stéphane's artistic integrity.

Stéphane dreams and in his dream life he is a TV host who can make the most impossible things happen. His work frustrations push him further into his dream world and he finds it more real than the mundane life of daytime. He lives across the hall from an equally delicate artistic mind named Stéphanie (the always fine and adroit Charlotte Gainsbourg) who is caught up in her own dream world of making little boats of paper and water of cellophane and clouds of cotton. The two begin a touch and run relationship that gradually develops into a mutual appreciation for each other's idiosyncrasies - in the best of all possible ways.

Gondry peppers his script with make-believe constructions, testy conversations, and some very funny and naughty observations that he tosses off with aplomb. Gael García Bernal infuses this strange role with a facile use of three languages (English, French and Spanish) and with a tender sense of comic timing and sensual magnetism that makes him irresistible. He carries the fantasy on his capable shoulders allowing us to love his bizarrely complex character at every quirky turn. He is an actor who takes more risks than most and is destined to be one of our more important actors as he continues to gain attention.

For those who need sharp margins of linearity and borders between reality and fantasy, this film may confuse and frustrate. But for viewers who love 'taking rides through dream fantasies on felt horses' this film is sure to please. Grady Harp
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Product Details

ISBN:
00085391137740
Publisher:
Warner Home Video
Publication Date:
2007-02-06
Credits:
Bernal, Gael Garcia
Binding:
DVD
Grade Level:
R
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The Science of Sleep
0 stars - 0 reviews
$ In Stock
Product details pages Warner Home Video - English 00085391137740 Reviews:
"Review" by , "It's a textural mindblower and a lot of fun."
"Review" by , "Nothing much happens, but a lot goes on. It perfectly captures the feeling of what it's like to be young, creative, lost, idealistic and maladjusted, and it recognizes the overlap between the urge to create things and the longing for love."
"Review" by , "Sweet, crazy, and tinged with sadness, Michel Gondry's new feature The Science of Sleep is a wondrous concoction."
"Review" by , "Michel Gondry's beguiling new film is so profoundly idiosyncratic, and so confident in its oddity, that any attempt to describe it is bound to be misleading."
"Review" by , "Gondry's hallucinatory brilliance holds you in thrall."
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