A spectacular 'Sleep'

French director and screenwriter Michel Gondry's name may be unfamiliar to most moviegoers, but his most famous work, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," is certainly well-known and well-loved. Gondry's well-crafted, complex meditation on memory was an instantly accessible and captivating, if quirky, love story. By contrast, Gondry's new film, "The Science of Sleep," is an even more trippy and, dare I say it, ambitious experience than Gondry's masterpiece.

While "Sunshine" dealt with memories, "Sleep" is Gondry's take on dreams. The film tells the tale of a young, frustrated Mexican artist named Stephane, played by Gael Garcia Bernal, who moves to Paris for a job as an illustrator at a popular calendar company. Much to Stephane's chagrin, this dream job is nothing more than a low-level position at a small business known only for its ski and nude calendars. Such a career is hell for the creative Stephane, so he escapes this monotonous life through his dreams, often as the host of "Stephane TV." Normally, Stephane is timid, but in his dreams, he becomes a veritable god. Unfortunately for Stephane, he cannot tell the difference between the world of sleep and reality, which leads to awkwardness not only with his coworkers, but also with the girl next door, Stephanie, who is played by Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Stephane and Stephanie seem like the perfect match, but when Stephane accidentally leaves a rambling letter under Stephanie's door during one of his dreams, it seems like any potential for a relationship is gone. Stephane slowly falls for her, but it might be too late for love.

The eccentric directorial style is definitely the highlight of the film. To convey the haphazardness of Stephane's dreamlike world, Gondry employs a variety of cinematographic techniques, most notably stop-motion animation. Many of the effects he uses during the dreams, such as the blue screen or giant plastic prop hands, perfectly reflect Stephane's inventive mind. When dreams run into the real world, the director employs less elaborate tricks, grounding the film in the reality of waking life. In one scene, one of Stephane's colleagues begins to speak slightly faster than normal. This simple sound device gives the whole scene a hilarious, yet curiously eerie feel. With his peculiar direction, Gondry is able to capture an intriguing vision of dreams rarely seen outside of surrealist films.

The last noteworthy touch that Gondry brings to the film is his decision to write the dialogue in multiple languages. The choice gives the dialogue an awkwardness that fits this story of developing love. When the non-French speaking Stephane talks with Stephanie in English, she clearly struggles to make conversation, asking "Is your... father all right?" Stephane, confused since he previously mentioned the demise of his dad, quietly responds, "He's still dead." The way in which she curses herself in French for her language faux pas is one of the many charming instances where the problem of language and expression appears in the film.

All the fantastic, bizarre dream sequences and complicated dialogue would be wasted if the cast was not up to the challenge. Fortunately, all the actors give excellent performances, especially Bernal, who is best known as the star of the seminal Mexican films "Y Tu Mama Tambien" and "The Motorcycle Diaries." Bernal plays Stephane as a bumbling, childlike man who never knows when to stop. This quality is best demonstrated when he attempts to sell his boss on a calendar with illustrations full of major disasters. His boss becomes progressively more mortified as Stephane somberly reenacts the last moments of TWA Flight 800. Bernal brings much of the emotion and humor to the film through this almost schizophrenic performance.

Bernal's costars prove to be just as effective in moving from the real to the dream world. Charlotte Gainsbourg mostly plays Stephanie as a somber, empty woman who is slowly becoming fatigued by Stephane's insanity. But whenever Stephane dreams, Gainsbourg suddenly transforms her character into a bubbly, gleeful woman. This duality is present almost without exception as the actors balance fully rounded characters in the waking scenes with caricatures in Stephane's dreams. Rarely does one find such enthusiastic and uniformly strong ensemble.

"The Science of Sleep" features amazing direction with a tight script and great performances. However, the question remains, is it as good as "Eternal Sunshine"? This film is a bumpier ride, making it harder to follow than Gondry's previous film. If you can stay on for the entire thing, however, you will be glad you did. After a summer of boring, big disappointments, "The Science of Sleep" is definitely a movie lover's dream come true.

Science of Sleep

Pros Eccentric direction by Gondry captures dreams perfectly and the star, Gael, gives ea performance that is both emotionally gripping and hilarious.

Cons This mind trip may be too much for the casual moviegoer.