The Science of Sleep

Director: Michel Gondry
Year Released: 2006
Rating: 2.0

Curious man-child (Gael García Bernal, who has to be modeled after Gondry), who is working a job he hates (which seems harmless enough, but whatever), tries to get next door neighbor (Charlotte Gainsbourg, dressed down) with a similarly fanciful view of life to like him, but he can only win her over in his dreams. Psychologically unhealthy though not without its charms - like a lot of Gondry's shorts and music videos - it ends on a regressive and anticlimactic note, with Bernal in near fetal position in a bunk bed, suggesting that the only way we can fulfill our dreams is through our minds. Even Gondry's started to recycle himself, and parts of his past work pop up in this; Bernal and Gainsbourg are arguably miscast, but the whimsy of the film is the real star.