him. It was really frightening.‘
A divorcee living in New York with his son. Gondry says The Seienee of Sleep is inspired by his own ‘past experiences of rejection‘ by women when he was an art student in Paris.
This theme is taken up by Charlotte Gainsbourg. She says. ‘I think it‘s very personal to Michel. He's a very complicated guy. But I also think it‘s close to the screenwriter who wrote for him before. Charlie Kaufman. He didn‘t write this one
but it is close in spirit.‘
Given that the film deals with a relationship dogged by failure. as liter/ml Suns/zine did. (iainsbourg‘s point is a sound one. Yet (iondry. who feels critics viewed him as a ‘journeyman' when he directed Kaufman's two scripts. is not so happy with this comparison. “Why would she say that'." he says. half joking. ‘l'm going to call her and complain!‘
After he's recovered from this personal affront. (iondry explains why he cast (lainsbourg. the daughter of iconic lirench sitiger-songwriter Serge and the British actress and singer Jane Birkin. ‘I think it was because Gael had a crush on her.‘ he jokes. before getting serious. ‘She has this thing where you don‘t know exactly what‘s going on in her head. At the same time. she can be really reassuring. She‘s not only fragile or enigmatic. She has this thing that makes you feel good. that the character [of Stephanel gets addicted to. He gets addicted to the sound of her voice. He feels that he's at home with her. But she doesn‘t have the same feeling with him.‘
(lainsbourg. who was born in London and raised by her bilingual mother but grew up mainly speaking lirench. admits she fell for Bernal while working with him. ‘()h. he‘s so sweet. He‘s really sweet. I really liked him.‘ she says.
The .S'eienee of Sleep features arguath (iainsbourg‘s best film performance to date. Her character. a vulnerable. introverted city
SCIENCE OF SLEEP
Anti-clockwise from bottom left, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Gondry and Kaufman with Kate Winslet; and scenes from Science of Sleep
girl with hidden creative depths. is a role well suited to the actress. who. perhaps not surprisingly given her pedigree. also dabbles in music. She collaborated with Parisian electro duo Air. The Divine Comedy‘s Neil Hannon and Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker on her latest album. last autumn‘s 5:55.
(iainsbourg describes working with Gondry as one of the highlights of her acting career. ‘I'I'lze Seienee of Sleep] is charming and very original. It was great to make because it was so small. one of the best films I‘ve made in the sense that it had a very small crew and we were all just having fun. It was a very quick and exciting experience.‘
For (iondry. making the movie wasn‘t such a love affair. With the film made in French. outside the studio system and minus Kaufman‘s input. he was very conscious that his first outing as writer-director could suffer from being rebuffed as he once was by legions of women.
‘Without Charlie. who was very opinionated on a lot of issues. I felt naked.‘ he admits. ‘I had to go through that and prove to myself I could do it. And 1 was ready to fail. I‘m always ready to fail. It‘s something I talk about a lot with Charlie. We agree that when we do a project. we have to have the chance of failing — otherwise we don‘t deserve any success.‘
The Science of Sleep is on general release from Fri 16 Feb.
15 l of) ~ 1 Mar 2007 THE LIST 23