Chasing Sleep

Ed Saxon, a college literature professor, cannot sleep. His wife Eve did not come home the night before, and as the hours pass he calls her friend, the hospital and finally the police. The investigation turns up a car theft and the abduction of a blonde woman, but that victim proves not to be Eve. Days go by, Ed stops going to work, and shut inside his house he loses the ability to separate waking life from hallucination. A stranger threatens him, a student comes to the door looking for comfort, and the house itself seems to grow stranger.

Jeff Daniels plays Ed Saxon, with Emily Bergl, Molly Price, Gil Bellows, Ben Shenkman and Julian McMahon in supporting roles. Michael Walker directed from his own screenplay, and the producers include Thomas Bidegain and Olivier Glaas.

Chasing Sleep was released in 2001, running 104 minutes, and was made as a co-production between Canada, the United States and France. It was the first feature Walker directed, and he returned to directing much later with Paint and then The Legend of Juan Jose Mundo. Audience response has been moderate: on IMDb the film holds a rating of 6.2 from around 3,800 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6 from roughly 94 votes, a smaller sample that points to a more limited viewership.