Michel Gondry Q&A

Chris Tilly talks to the director of 'The Science of Sleep', plus an exclusive clip from the film.

Feb 16 2007

Chris Tilly talks to 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' director Michel Gondry, whose new film, 'The Science of Sleep', revolves around a young man whose dreams merge with reality.

Is Stephane, the lead character in 'The Science of Sleep', based on you?

Yes, it's fairly autobiographical. I have to admit it. It's not 100% and it's a mixture of different periods of my life. Other characters are based on different impressions of different people I have met in my life. It was the first thing that I wrote and directed on my own so I needed to take the matter from something I know.

Stephane's a bit mad though, isn't he?

Are you saying I'm mad?

Well, that's what I'm asking you…

Well he’s not always very sane. I pushed it quite far. Since I didn't want to offend anyone I can put all the blame on me. I don't care if people think I'm crazy.

Are the dreams based on dreams that you have had then?

Mostly yes. Not all of them but about eight out of ten are dreams I've had. With one of them, I was finishing a relationship with my ex-girlfriend, who dumped me after 'Eternal Sunshine' – I was really sad, so I bonded with this person and we did all this creative stuff. We started to make objects together and she ended up making the horse in the film. I didn't find her attractive to be honest, but one day I had a dream that I was collecting objects that she made for an exhibition, which you see in the film. It didn't happen in a cave though – in the film I put it in a cave. When I woke up I thought I was falling in love with her and I wrote the dream down and sent it as an email to my ex-girlfriend because I wanted to make her jealous. I thought she would see that I was falling in love with another girl and want to get back with me.

I'm guessing that didn't work.

It didn't work at all, and not only did it not work out, but when I shared the dream with this person it made her very suspicious about me. That's how a dream can infect out lives – it can inspire us or it can really distract us and give us the wrong impression. So Stephane dreams he's having a very nice relationship with Stephanie, and in real life it doesn't really work this way. That's very difficult. He creates a new Stephanie in his dream that doesn't exist in real life. When this happens, it's difficult, because you are in love with somebody who does not exist.

Is it right that you did the special effects before shooting the rest of the film?

Most of the animation – about 70% - was done eight months before we shot. And 30% was done while we were shooting, in the same locations, during the night. It was important because usually the animation is done afterwards, in post-production, and the actors act in front of blues screen or don’t have much to interact with, but here they interact with reality.

I think that shows.

I think it gives them a sense of magic. It's like being a child - it's like I'm showing them my toys or my creation and they can all participate and get excited, and I think that's reflected in the way they act.

It looks very lo-tech.

Yes, because basically everything is made by Stephane in the film.

Are you using the same kind of lo-tech approach to your new film 'Be Kind Rewind'?

Well there are no effects. Even though they are remaking films, they are using their own capacities, which is next to zero, so it's lo-tech, but not exactly the same sort of thing. There's a joy in being creative with lo-tech equipment.

Is it true there's you shot an entirely different version of 'The Science of Sleep'?

Yes – one hour and twenty minutes worth of film. The French DVD includes lots of deleted scenes that tell the same story from a completely new perspective.

Will that be coming out in the UK?

Well I hope so. You'll have to ask the distributors but I think that it should.

'The Science of Sleep' is out today, and to see our exclusive clip from the film, click here.

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