The Science of Sleep
Short description
Stéphane, a shy young illustrator, returns from Mexico to Paris at his mother's urging, only to find that the job she arranged for him at a small calendar company is dull and far removed from anything creative. His inner life is far richer: he drifts into elaborate dreams and invents a television show in his head, struggling to keep his imagination from crowding out reality.
That balance grows harder when he meets Stéphanie, a neighbor who makes stuffed toys and who first finds his oddities charming. His attempts to win her over spill into his dream world, where courtship seems easier than it is in waking life, while his eccentric coworker Guy and Stéphanie's friend Zoé drift through the margins of his days.
Michel Gondry directed and wrote the film, his third feature after Human Nature and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and he produced it with Georges Bermann and Frédéric Junqua. Gael García Bernal plays Stéphane, Charlotte Gainsbourg plays Stéphanie, and Miou-Miou, Alain Chabat, Emma de Caunes and Aurélia Petit appear in support. Made for about 6 million dollars, it took around 10 million worldwide. It holds a 7.2 on IMDb from roughly 72,000 votes and a 7 on TMDB, while critics' reviews average 6.8.
What's left behind the scenes
- Rhys Ifans was originally slated to play the lead role. He worked with director and screenwriter Michel Gondry on early drafts of the script and is also mentioned in the final credits among those to whom the filmmakers express their gratitude.
- The characters in the film constantly switch the language they speak: English, French, and Spanish are heard in the movie. According to the director, he hadn't planned this, as the lead actor Gael García Bernal had promised to learn French by the start of filming, but failed to keep his promise.
- Above Stefan’s bed hangs an envelope from The Smiths record “How Soon Is Now?”. Envelopes from records by the British band The Cure also hang above it. In the shots where little Stefan lies on the bed covered in his own vomit, with his hands incredibly large, we see a cardboard cutout with cupids drawn on it on the left wall – the same illustration is on the cover of the album “Japanese Whispers.” And in all the “present day” scenes where the same wall is visible, the envelope from the album “Three Imaginary Boys” hangs in the same place.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
