Most people know Versailles' Michel Gondry for his 2004 masterpiece Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a heart-rending exploration of the pain of memory, seen through screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's wacked-out sci-fi vision. Before this, Gondry had made his name directing music videos, cultivating a fanciful, home-spun aesthetic that would be given fuller life in his features. His more recent forays have included Be Kind Rewind, which has perhaps the greatest film premise of all time, and the comic adaptation The Green Hornet, which both seemed slightly underwhelming in their execution. Back in the recesses of 2006, Gondry released a strange little film called The Science of Sleep. With some minor critical attention and mostly public apathy, the movie turned into a blip on his IMDB page. However, after seeing The Science of Sleep once more at a Picturehouse retrospective, I contend that it is still Gondry's best film. For good or bad, it remains one of the purest cinematic representations of a single creative vision.

The film stars Gael Garcia Bernal as half-Mexican, half-French Stéphane returning to Paris after his father dies. Like Gondry himself, Stéphane is a hopelessly imaginative soul, caught up in a private dream world that looks like a day-time TV show made out of corrugated cardboard. Though his mother finds him a menial job at a calendar-maker, Bernal struggles to adjust to adult life, preferring to tinker with fanciful inventions like a 'One-Second Time Machine' or his calendar of famous disasters. But hope comes in the form of Charlotte Gainsbourg, his neighbour, with whom he forms a quick friendship over optical illusions and paper-craft. This first half of the film shows Gondry's shakiness as a screenwriter, as their introduction is based upon what seems like a plot-line from a 70s sit-com; however, these mechanics are secondary to the tenderness of individual moments. In one scene, while the pair try to make clouds from tufts of cotton, Philippe plays successive chords on the piano until, finally, they float to the ceiling. It's a beautiful and inexplicable moment that captures their joy for creation.

It's clear that in making The Science of Sleep, Gondry was trying to capture the poignant insanity of his ex-collaborator, Charlie Kaufman. While Gondry doesn't quite measure up, this is to the film's ultimate advantage. Where Kaufman's scripts are unmistakably adult in their wit and invention, The Science of Sleep benefits from having one foot in the playground. Never has a film that clearly took a ridiculous amount of preparation felt more improvised or organic. The dialogue moves as naturally as the giant stuffed horses that gallop across the frame. Bernal casually mis-hearing the name 'Aristotle' at the beginning turns into an elaborate visual pun by the end. Gondry also assembles a wonderful supporting cast, the stand-out being the comedian Alain Chabat as Bernal's 'dirty old man' sidekick. Although he's incredibly funny, his character is all about showing humanity in small moments, such as when he tires of his TV and decides to throw it in the Canal St. Martin.

I remembered Stéphane's flights of fancy but I had forgotten just how poignant an exploration of creativity The Science of Sleep is. Behind the cardboard cities and eclectic soundtrack, Bernal's character represents the price of seeing the world in a completely original way; despite her attempts, not even Gainsbourg has a chance at fully understanding him. We see that Philippe's retreat into the dream world is as tragic as it is eye-catching. It's really just Taxi Driver, but with less grit and more papier maché. The Science of Sleep manages to nakedly examine Gondry's artistic process, while still maintaining the levity that makes it a joy to watch. His next feature, Mood Indigo, looks set to tread familiar ground, returning to an all-French cast and his characteristic visuals. While I maintain high hopes that this will be a success, for me it'll be tough to match the unbridled personality of Gondry's secret masterpiece.

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