Movie: The Science of Sleep, or La Science des Reves

Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche remain among two of my favorite actors, but Charlotte Gainsbourg is in an entirely different league altogether. She puts Sienna Miller to shame, as the latter loves to flaunt her “boho chic” rep but couldn’t hold a candle to the queen of all things bohemian, Mlle. Gainsbourg. Unlike Ms. Miller, Charlotte’s style and demeanor reveal a fierce intelligence and artistic sensibility that’s altogether missing from the starlet’s public image.

The character Charlotte plays in The Science of Sleep reminds me of all the good things I love and admire about her. Twenty-something Stephanie is a Parisian artist living in a tiny apartment (and I mean real-world tiny, not Hollywood tiny) who supports herself by working in an art supply store. Her apartment appears ready to burst at the seams with all the yarn, dolls, paintings, fabrics, etc., that fill the shelves and every inch of living space, the raw materials from which she creates her folk-artsy pieces.

Latin hottie Gael Garcia Bernal plays Stephane, an artist fresh from Mexico to stay at his French mother’s apartment in Paris. Stephanie, of course, turns out to be his neighbor, and the rest of the film unfolds with Stephane trying to deal with his inability to distinguish between his waking reality and his dreams.

The special effects enthrall, not because of any CGI wizardry but because of the obvious lack of it. Director Michel Gondry (who also helmed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) chose to use old-fashioned special effects techniques (stop-motion animation, Claymation, household and craft materials to create entire cities and landscapes, etc.) to illustrate Stephane’s absurd, Surrealistic dreamworld, giving us a charming peek into the delusions that propel him to make the kind of questionable decisions (about his life, his love, his work) he frequently indulges in throughout the movie.

Charlotte’s Stephanie has a lanky, angular grace that contrasts with her wispy demeanor. She always seems to be hunched over, her alarmingly stringy hair hiding her unmade-up, tired face, as if she’s afraid of something. Of Stephane, to be sure — he can be an absolute nut-job; the man obviously has what we Americans would call issues — but also of the world and her place in it. She creates some whimsical art but, as Stephane points out rather cruelly, she never seems to finish it. It’s as if she has no confidence in herself as an artist as well as a person, which would make her attachment to Stephane logical, because here’s a force of nature (albeit an unstable one) who is so consumed by his unique artistic vision of the world that he can’t quite leave it, even if only to go to his day job.

I loved this film because Charlotte’s character reminds of who I am now as well as who I want to be. She’s not your conventional Frenchwoman — cool, detached, ice-queen a la Catherine Deneuve — but more the bohemian artist who does what she likes and is content with the the realization that her chosen lifestyle will always relegate her to the sidelines of life. I guess when I was younger I wanted to be someone else — wealthy, perhaps, certainly “important” (whatever that means) and influential. What young person doesn’t believe she isn’t destined for greatness? But I suppose that’s the silver lining behind ageing — maybe not so much wisdom as an acceptance of one’s limitations and a wider-eyed view of a world that’s really more style than substance. Charlotte Gainsbourg the actress/singer may enjoy the material fruits of her talent and hard work, but the person herself appears to be someone who doesn’t really care much about any of that, someone who would just as soon be happy being an anonymous artist, perhaps living in a cramped Parisian apartment, working on pieces that she understands no one may ever see, but which speak to her heart and allow her to transcend the grimy reality of life outside the dreamworld.

By the way, there’s a beautiful song in the film called “Rescue Me” that’s also played in the background if you click on the “Enter Site” link on the movie’s official Web site. The scene in the film where the song is played is funny and charming, especially given the very serious expressions on the actors’ faces. The whole Web site gives you a flavor of the mixed-media feel of the film itself, including a glimpse of Stephane’s hilarious “Disasterology” idea for a commercial calendar.

The DVD contains a few extra features, including a goldmine of a Making Of documentary that should be of interest to fans of French films and filmmaking in general. There are also, oddly enough, a couple of cat rescue docs that don’t give any indication as to their relation to the film itself (other than maybe the director or producer is a cat lover). One of the docs features a weird, really loopy animal adoption advocate who reminds me a little of Molly Shannon’s character in last year’s Year of the Dog. Not a good comparison, by the way.

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