The Science of Sleep
Warner Independent Pictures (WIP) | Release Date: September 22, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
28
Mixed:
4
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
An indie version of Gondry's "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," albeit with none of the star power, a quarter of the budget, half the angst, and twice the charm. Read full review
88
PremiereGlenn Kenny
It's not likely you'll see a film more visually exhilarating until, well, Gondry's next. Read full review
88
TV Guide MagazineEthan Alter
Bernal continues to demonstrate an impressive range; the character requires the normally laid-back actor to be a wild ball of energy, and he's more than up to the challenge. His performance is hilarious, heartfelt and more than a little creepy, which could also be said about the movie itself. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
This fascinating and occasionally transporting film never quite transforms into something really great. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Very difficult to characterize and that's why I like it. The best I can do is to call it a sunny tragedy. Read full review
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
This scruffy, unkempt tale lacks the narrative satisfaction of Kaufman's dramatic design, but between the chaotic zigs and creative jags, it proclaims its own kind of messy authenticity and a bittersweet beauty. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Gondry is a soft surrealist without much of a sociopolitical agenda, closer to Dr. Seuss than Luis Buñuel, Read full review
80
EmpireOliver Richards
It suffers occasionally from self-consciousness and over-indulgence in its own oddity, but Gondry’s grasp of emotion and visuals is enchanting. Even if he seems several sandwiches short of a picnic. Read full review
80
Film ThreatSally Foster
The Science of Sleep truly has to be seen to be believed. Read full review
80
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Sweet, crazy, and tinged with sadness, Michel Gondry's new feature The Science of Sleep is a wondrous concoction. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
For the soul of Gondry's work, it seems to me, is neither its soaring flights of visual fancy nor its sometimes crude slapstick, but rather its pained understanding of a generation hopelessly tongue-tied when it comes to matters of the heart. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
No one who sees it will confuse it with anything else. Fans of Gondry's DIY low-tech aesthetic, which he blends, as always, with exceptionally sophisticated animation techniques, will adore it. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Never intends to be deeper than a magician's hat, and its wonderfully low-tech stop-motion technique is not only a nod to Czech animator Jan Svankmajer but a tacit rebuke to computer-graphics-heavy fantasies such as "The Chronicles of Narnia" or the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
It's rare for young actors to exude as much charisma and charm as Gainsbourg and García Bernal. Read full review
80
SlateDana Stevens
To me, the movie feels like a small but ingeniously crafted gift. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
I think it's a mess, but - and this is a major caveat - an endearing, beautiful, hopelessly honest mess that's supported by a pair of performances so unnaturally natural that they draw you in and clutch you, struggling, to their flipping, flopping hearts. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
The title is all that's boring about director Michel Gondry's latest mind bender, as trippy as LSD. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
This pop-up book of a film is an ideal arrangement between director and star. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
It only works about half the time, but it's an interesting half. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Unlike Gondry's previous features, Human Nature and Eternal Sunshine, Science lacks the sturdy armature of a Charlie Kaufman screenplay to support its eccentricities. The flood of delight in the film's first 90 minutes slowed to a trickle and, finally, a drip. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Fusing animation and live action with a series of outrageous props, Gondry veers dangerously close to being precious. But make no mistake: Gondry's hallucinatory brilliance holds you in thrall. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
The look of the film is dazzling, even hallucinatory, and the concept is beyond quirky as conceived by Gondry, a talented visual stylist, in his first film based on his own script. The story is compelling, unconventional and diverting in its blurring of reality and fantasy. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
With Mexican star Gael Garcia Bernal energetically playing a vulnerable graphic artist with a hyperactive imagination and little confidence with women, picture has an overriding quality of sweetness that will prove endearing to audiences, especially younger females. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
So while The Science of Sleep may not, in the end, be terribly deep, it is undoubtedly -- and deeply -- refreshing. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The Science of Sleep is like a weird dream that tugs at the memory throughout the day with its intriguing, misshapen pieces. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jason McBride
It's this edge that saves The Science of Sleep from its own whimsy. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
The result is a charming, inventive, ambitious, surreal mess. Read full review
63
New York PostKyle Smith
Watching it is like being the only non-stoned person in the room as someone tells a long, long story. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Certainly pleasant, and occasionally endearing, but it's also strangely empty and unsatisfying, like hearing about someone else's wild dream: You can appreciate the details, but you don't really care how it turns out. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
The Science of Sleep transports you, but it strands you, too. Apart from the time-machine bit and two or three other daft exchanges, Gondry’s scenes tend to circle around the same drain: the hero’s insufferable narcissism. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
A frantic and funny diversion, but it pales and tires before its time is up. It doesn't know the meaning of enough. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
What "Eternal Sunshine" did with magic and whimsy, The Science of Sleep accomplishes with confusion and pretentiousness. Read full review
25
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
You have to identify pretty strongly with suffering artistes to find anything to root for in The Science of Sleep. Read full review
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