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The Science of Sleep

The Science of Sleep

2006
Romance, Comedy
1h 45m
The Science of Sleep is a playful romantic fantasy set inside the topsy-turvy brain of Stephane Miroux (Bernal) an eccentric young man whose dreams constantly invade his waking life. (Warner Independent Pictures)
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The Science of Sleep

2006
Romance, Comedy
1h 45m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 56.12% from 3560 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(3560)
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Rated 12 Feb 2007
82
73rd
Not as good as ESOTM, but decent. Bernal is a much better actor than Carrey, and his character is more interesting. The dream sequences are nicely done and not annoying in the way they usually are. There's a lot of imagination here, and a good grasp of how the unconscious mind works. But there's too much treading water with no forward progress. I felt a bit unsatisfied at the end, like I didn't get enough of a journey for my time investment. I liked it, but there's nothing calling me back.
Rated 27 Mar 2007
85
97th
3rd installment from Gondry is infact his best for me inspite of the popular belief. There is a sublevel emotional coherence in this movie, it is not a heap of design madness as it may seem. Infact truely personal, perhaps maybe only identifiable by similar personas, don't know really.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
81
59th
Quirky, weird, surreal. It's what one would expect from a Gondry screenplay and film, which is to say, I never knew what to expect next. See it.
Rated 18 Jun 2008
8
82nd
This movie is awesome. I've always hoped Gondry would come close to Spotless Mind again (even though I figured impossible) but he almost achieved that here. Gale Garcia Bernal is slowly becoming one of my favorite actors and he was amazing in this, like usual. The movie really has it all but then again I love fresh love stories.
Rated 08 Apr 2010
45
34th
Inventive and imaginative, but wears out its welcome, in part because the protagonists seem less and less likeable as the movie unfolds.
Rated 09 Dec 2019
69
59th
Visually arresting but quirky with a capitol D (for Dharma).
Rated 22 Feb 2007
90
91st
Perfectly crafted to blur the line between reality and dreams. I'm literally in awe at how masterfully Stephane's fantasy world is depicted, it honestly feels like you're inside his head. A must see.
Rated 08 Jul 2007
90
90th
Although a certain comprehension of the french language really made the movie better, Gondry's visuals truly speak for themselves, creating imaginative, if sometimes naive creations that move with the bustle of a troubled mind. Bernal and Gainsbourg pull in truly phenomenal performances as the struggling pseudo-couple.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
70
48th
Clever and hilarious, but your enjoyment of the movie will work in direct proportion to how much slack you give Bernal's narcissistic manchild. To me, more than 2 hours is an iffy proposition.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
79
72nd
Imaginative and clever, though it occasionally feels lost and directionless. I like that it doesn't blindly worship the "dreamer outcast" figure like so many quirky indie movies do, but demonstrates how awkward and even dangerous someone out of touch with normal human interactions can be.
Rated 16 Aug 2007
55
16th
Beautiful movie, but fails in regards to having likable characters. The protagonist is too neurotic to remotely identify with, and his crush feels either underdeveloped or underwritten.
Rated 07 Mar 2008
50
38th
As a movie, it doesn't really work. It's hard to tell anything from eachother and the plot is.. Nearly nonexistent. The acting is good, and it's worth watching for the visuals. But it has a tendency of trying to hard, to the point where it gets really annoying. If you have some patience, you might enjoy it.
Rated 24 May 2010
84
84th
The whimsy and cuteness would be hard to take, if it wasn't underscored with a such deep strain of melancholy and even pathology. What we have here is essentially the antithesis of films like Garden State, quirkiness as pain.
Rated 16 Dec 2006
91
95th
I don't know how the others feel, but i was very depressed after this movie. And the stop-motion animations were great!
Rated 25 Dec 2006
96
95th
Gondry is just pure genius, I love him so much. Pure imagination. The cast and soundtrack are great, too.
Rated 27 Feb 2007
73
64th
It's really not much of a movie as much as it seems like Gondry just fucking around, but I think it works really well. It's got fun and imaginative visuals, that really help to capture Stephane's dreamworld and the way he's constantly stuck between it and reality.
Rated 21 Jul 2007
90
92nd
Michel Gondry creates another odd little world of his own that scares you a little bit but you end up wanting to live there. Does Michel Gondry exist so that people can use the word "whimsical" more often? Anyhow, really fascinating and unusual.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
100
97th
What a stunning film. I'm a huge Gondry fan, so I'm happy to see something completely different than 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'. Some of the visuals actually remind me of 'Pee-Wee's Playhouse', which makes me love the film a million times more.
Rated 15 Aug 2007
86
76th
Bizarre, but enjoyable
Rated 24 Sep 2007
3
61st
It looked pretty, and the dream sequences were fairly realistic (for dreams.) But sweet fucking Jesus, was Bernal's character ever a self-absorbed little baby. I was actually glad for Gainsbourg's character for basically telling him to fuck off. I understand that that's kind of the idea, but when a character is annoying to the point of distraction, it's hard to enjoy the rest of the film.
Rated 27 Nov 2007
27
9th
You know how bad dream sequences usually are in movies? This is basically nothing but dream sequence. It's not that you can't make a great movie that way, it's that Gondry hasn't. He filters a standard boy-meets-girl romance through the whimsical creativity of dreamscapes. The characters engaged aren't well-realized enough to make their relationship interesting and the dream visuals, while fairly unique, become redundant well before Gondry has tired of throwing more business into the frame.
Rated 07 Feb 2008
86
80th
Did I know that the heck was going on? No. Did I enjoy watching it anyway? Yes.
Rated 15 Mar 2008
83
81st
His follow-up to Eternal Sunshine, Gondry's sophomore effort plays with many of the same themes: love, loss, the mind's inner workings. His visual style makes it near impossible to tell what's real and what's imaginary, and there's a lot of nonsense here, but it doesn't matter -- this isn't a movie built on words or story, or even visual style (though it certainly has plenty of that). It's all about emotion, and it's hard not to form a personal connection to the movie's universal themes.
Rated 14 Jun 2008
90
84th
A painful and naked film about unrequited love. The film visits that special place in your mind where you hold idealized or distorted images of other people; where you plan, run scenarios, revisit events over and over trying to find clues or connections. Past a certain point I just had to laugh and cover my face in embarrassment at the things it gets just perfect. It's a mopey, pathetic, accurate portrayal of self-absorbed, one-sided, mostly illusory love. Nothing romantic about it.
Rated 15 Aug 2008
65
37th
Many of the dreams are really beautiful but somehow the whole movie appears unfinished...the story seems aimless and does not get to the point. You might get the impression Gondry missed that he is making a whole movie not a music video. Bernal makes a good job to underline this impression with his childish acting style.
Rated 31 Mar 2009
70
57th
Unlike his work with Charlie Kaufman, this film has shallow content. Visually stunning, but unremarkable.
Rated 19 Sep 2009
84
90th
A wonderful mix of charm and imagination, with just a tad too much quirkiness. The main drawback is how hard it is to sympathize with some of the more eccentric behavior of Stephane. Otherwise it was a fascinating watch that was a breath of fresh air. Guy was awesome and needs a movie of his own.
Rated 23 Nov 2009
40
28th
Annoyingly self-indulgent. This is Gondry disappearing so-far into his own experiment, that you fell like he doesn't even care if you're coming or not.
Rated 03 Jan 2010
96
85th
a really nice and cosy film, and highly natural and believable.. But it was a bit too long, and the ending was really unclear.. Kinda left me wanting to know if my feeling about the consequence was correct.
Rated 04 Aug 2010
45
33rd
Gondry is a talented director, there isn't any doubt about that, although it's clear he can't write for shit. The relationship aspect just didn't add up in the end. It also didn't help that Bernal becomes more and more annoying throughout the film (like everything else he is in). Gainsbourg was great, despite looking like a Holocaust survivor. Don't expect to be blown away like Eternal Sunshine.
Rated 25 Sep 2010
66
51st
The effects sequences are clever as always with Gondry, but when you sandwich completely unlikable characters around their whimsy, it just sort of makes it seem like a jumbled mess.
Rated 15 May 2014
75
37th
Unquestionably charming, a fun, clever collage of a movie. But it's also a bit messy, occasionally too messy for my liking.
Rated 06 Feb 2017
100
99th
This is still one of my favourite films. It's a story about human frailty and how we cope with our weaknesses. The childish Stephane hides away in his fantasies. Stephanie fails to properly establish borders. Guy indulges in pathetic machismo to hide his loneliness, et cetera. Gondry again manages to amaze with CGI-free special effects, without distracting from the plot or acting. The greatest compliment i can give the film is that i can't think of any other one like it.
Rated 27 Jul 2017
69
38th
The visual style and creativity of this movie is brilliant, but I feel that I was let down by false advertising. I would not call this a "playful romantic fantasy," because it's not really very romantic. It's hard to find a likable character, and though Bernal and Gainsbourg perform well, I just didn't like their chemistry or attitudes. I kept thinking about how I would have done this movie differently & by the end I was just frustrated. The last 2 minutes help a bit, but don't redeem it for me.
Rated 30 Jul 2020
60
32nd
This is what people who don't like Wes Anderson think his movies are like.
Rated 02 Feb 2007
80
43rd
A bit aimless, but still worth seeing.
Rated 11 Feb 2007
57
31st
A good idea but so poorly executed that I wasn't sure if it was worth finishing. And, really, I can suspend disbelief for almost anything, but to expect anyone finds Charlotte Gainsbourg attractive... not likely.
Rated 17 Mar 2007
85
52nd
Lots of fun, but nothing particularly new.
Rated 20 Mar 2007
93
99th
Interesting film which is very hard to describe. The film is beautiful to look at, especially with its clever and quirky imagery. At times can be confusing, but worth paying that extra attention so that you can be drawn into the story.
Rated 25 Mar 2007
10
6th
106 minutes of my life I will never get back.
Rated 05 Apr 2007
41
41st
A bit of a disappointment, and lacking in focus, but still an interesting sort of psychic romp with endearing fantasies and some nice playing with reality. Ultimately, though, the main character is just a bit pathetic and the story has nowhere to go.
Rated 20 Apr 2007
90
85th
i love her. charlotte.
Rated 14 Jun 2007
65
22nd
It was just slow, confused and boring, but it had some very charming and whimsical bits.
Rated 11 Jul 2007
35
9th
emo/indie existensial angst is not my cup tea.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
80
61st
Bernal and Gainsbourg are amazing.
Rated 18 Aug 2007
80
63rd
Cute, funny, and odd. fantastical analog special effects keep this from being too indie.
Rated 27 Aug 2007
82
67th
Extremely likeable and better than I had heard it was. I really loved Gael in this flick..and obviously the visuals are incredible. A lot of imagination, awesome.
Rated 06 Sep 2007
94
98th
Gondry creates such beauty without CGI that you wonder why computers were brought into filmmaking in the first place.
Rated 15 Sep 2007
35
8th
Irritating and immature fantasy/romance with an unlikeable lead character.
Rated 08 Oct 2007
90
68th
excellent film. recommend it to anyone who wants to see something un-ordinary.
Rated 22 Nov 2007
80
60th
immaginificamente visivo, ma la storia ha chiaramente delle falle.
Rated 25 Nov 2007
90
79th
Buenisima
Rated 30 Nov 2007
68
61st
A fresh fantasy film without any digital effects. The old school guy, though the film is very new. Story is not that brilliant, but I kind of fell in love with the interesting way of making the effects of this movie.
Rated 13 Dec 2007
84
39th
pretty
Rated 14 Jan 2008
88
67th
Original, sweet and well done. i liked it a lot. Good sense of humor, too.
Rated 17 Feb 2008
75
11th
Interesting to look at, but not much else.
Rated 24 Feb 2008
70
87th
Really good fun.
Rated 07 Mar 2008
89
87th
At times it felt like a gimmick, but whatever I still loved every second, guess I got suckered.
Rated 22 Apr 2008
70
42nd
23 Nisan 08, 01:00am. & Michel Gondry yine aski anlatiyor fakat bu anlatim tarzi hicbir filme benzemiyor.tabii isin icinde gainsbourg ve ggBernal olunca, yilin en iyi ask filmi ortaya cikmis.Michel Gondry'nin kesinlikle deli dolu bir hayal dunyasi var.
Rated 13 Jun 2008
70
28th
No one can accuse it of not being one of the most creative films of the last several decades. The story is there, it just didn't keep my attention, though.
Rated 17 Jun 2008
40
4th
Without a decent script to keep Gondry's ideas grounded, the film quickly descends into a rabble of whimsy, half-baked ideas and brutally unlikeable characters.
Rated 18 Jun 2008
81
83rd
A constant visual flow of creativity. Incredibly overwhelming and refreshing. Gondry creates a world of dreams which seems to be as appealing as it is lonely. The relativity of the beauty of dreams, is a nice approach, but in difference to the visual style, Gondry isn't able to build a really nice script around it. ... Nevertheless it's an impressive fascinating film, which raises the expectations for the next project of Michel Gondry
Rated 05 Jul 2008
99
96th
There are so many movies that operate in a similar what-is-real/what-is-fantasy way that this movie does, but I buy it in this movie. I'm able enjoy the disjointed reality/dream mechanisms here. Why? I don't know for sure, but it's just either obvious enough or not far-fetched enough for it not to bother me.
Rated 11 Aug 2008
85
70th
Beautiful and funny.
Rated 02 Sep 2008
75
42nd
Weird movie. I lost track of the main character after half of the movie, so my joy of watching was diminished a little bit.
Rated 20 Sep 2008
1
0th
Made it 30 minutes wondering wtf is going on before finally giving up.
Rated 19 Dec 2008
62
10th
Erm. Yes. Enjoyed the giant hand fight, but was a bit weird.....
Rated 02 Jan 2009
50
18th
Oddness for it's own sake rather than anything else.
Rated 03 Jan 2009
100
86th
A personal favorite, it's dreamy but lucid.
Rated 11 Jan 2009
48
28th
It tried too hard and didn't quite achieve. Some good visuals, but not enough and the characters and story didn't really work.
Rated 29 Jan 2009
50
41st
Only the French can make something like this. It has some fun and captivating scenes, but overall it didn't work for me.
Rated 23 Mar 2009
90
81st
Impressive visuals and a tour de force from Bernal. Imaginative and fun.
Rated 30 Mar 2009
91
77th
very creative and well worth seeing....thumbs up!
Rated 13 Apr 2009
92
91st
un sueño bastante real
Rated 30 May 2009
55
37th
a little bit too personal, and almost autobiographical in parts, gondry's confused mind is completely on display here. those who had his imagination and passion for make shift realities as a child will eventually find something quite special in this film. problem is stephane's dream infused reality carries over the main plot, which is quite not suitable for general taste.
Rated 04 Jul 2009
85
84th
This odd, creative but confusing movie played out its trick well: keeping the mind of the viewer occupied finding some sense in the seemingly unstructured plot, and during the confusion, putting some beautiful and clever scenes in the viewers mind. A reference to how confusing a relationship sometimes can feel? And that Charlotte Gainsbourg is a joy for the eye, a welcome distraction by itself..
Rated 19 Jul 2009
85
58th
This movie looks really cool.
Rated 29 Jul 2009
50
24th
I could never really explain what it is that I don't like about this film, but whatever it is, it just turns me off.
Rated 01 Aug 2009
78
80th
Wow! Gondry can direct beautifully, vividly and sensitively. But he desperately needs others to write for him... ideally Kaufman!?
Rated 08 Sep 2009
90
90th
Such a odd ending.
Rated 03 Nov 2009
4
55th
A big hipster mess.
Rated 04 Nov 2009
10
2nd
Malisima
Rated 08 Nov 2009
88
91st
Excellently surreal throughout, with a suprising amount of underlying coherence. Doesn't fall into the trap of making likeable characters that trade depth and reality for plot dynamics. A romantic film with no cliches.
Rated 22 Nov 2009
72
76th
flawed, but great set pieces, and terrific moments. I really like Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Rated 21 Dec 2009
84
60th
A lovely, very sad little film.
Rated 12 May 2010
90
85th
watched it without subtitles but wouldnt recomend it unless you know spanish french and english
Rated 16 Jun 2010
90
98th
overall just a fun movie
Rated 08 Aug 2010
33
30th
#09#, reviews, story, dir Gondry
Rated 27 Aug 2010
78
58th
not as good as I had hoped..
Rated 05 Sep 2010
60
2nd
artsy and fun at times. definetley pretty original.
Rated 23 Sep 2010
65
38th
Patetisk indie-gøgl med nogle gode elementer.
Rated 13 Oct 2010
73
52nd
A self-indulgent romp through Gondry's dream world, this badly needed a Kaufman to give it some structure and discipline. Lovely handmade effects though.
Rated 03 Nov 2010
9
92nd
Wonderful. Bernal is is his usual greatness and Gondry effortlessly swaps between dream and reality.
Rated 05 Nov 2010
63
82nd
A wacky movie; pretty different and entertaining.
Rated 29 Nov 2010
90
91st
The subject of dreaming is a nice excuse for Gondry to appropriately exploit his unfiltered music-video sensibilities. Dreams, reality, fantasies, and other peculiar timelines are mixed together like a fine, jazzy cocktail to produce this wonderful, strange low-budget (for really, really great reasons), other-worldly romance film that's actually romantic.
Rated 01 Dec 2010
92
96th
Delightful, fantastic movie. The music, visuals, story are so cute. It was so heartwarming
Rated 15 Dec 2010
82
80th
As you'd expect from Gondry it's confusing, charming and random, with the boundaries between the real and dream worlds far from clear. But through all that I felt it really hung together surprisingly well, tugging at the heart strings in all the right places.
Rated 10 Jan 2011
35
90th
"The difference between Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep is the difference between a good pop song and a great punk record." - Ed Gonzalez
Rated 08 Feb 2011
67
43rd
There's a lot of stuff in here I like, but also a lot I didn't like (i.e. the main character). The first half is also definitely better than the second half, which gets more and more annoying as the characters get uglier. Leaves me with a weird mix of emotions, but at least it does provoke some thought and reflection.
Rated 22 Apr 2011
45
7th
Ugh, this was the nail in the coffin for me and "whimsical" films.

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