Charlotte Gainsbourg and Gael Garcia Bernal in Michel Gondry's The Science of Sleep.
Watched this two years ago. Still haven't forgotten Stephane, the artist played by Bernal who couldn't distinguish fantasy from reality in his mix of hallucinations.
I think his character was convincing, to a significant degree, because what he wore was likewise very different from what those around him were clothed in.
His purple suit gave him license to incite surreal scenes.
It was also his strange personality that endeared him to his soft-spoken neighbor, Stephanie, played by Gainsbourg.
Notice that even in dream sequences, the color of dress of the two characters contrasted.
The suit and the sweater were like Spanish and French: one bold and the other complicated.
Stephane's suit reminds me of an outfit from Yves Saint Lauent's 2008 Fall/Winter collection, which is both brave and refined.
Stephanie's sweater, which Gainsbourg found and suggested for her character, looks gray from afar, until all the flecks of color appear upon closer notice.
It is the same for the beauty of the French singer and actress.
In dreams, emotions are overwhelming.
And so I guess are the colors of suits and the accessories that come with them, not to mention dreamy women.
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This contrasting of characters through color was also used by Gondry in his more popular film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Primarily through Kate Winslet's hair.
You look like a tangerine!
In this film, memories take the place of dreams, binding with reality to create surreal sequences.
For both The Science of Sleep and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, eccentricities make way for the otherworldly.
Can we say the same for beauty?
Can certain eccentricities and subtleties offer us a glimpse of attractiveness that can be called otherworldly since it cannot be possessed?
Not held by specific features or facial structure.
Beauty that is fleeting and exists outside of oneself.
Seen only through her eyes.
Appeal that transforms as it moves between youth and maturity, femininity and masculinity, innocence and malice.
In daily life and across her various roles on screen and in glossies, something certainly radiates about Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Her own eternal sunshine.
Photos from men.style.com and The Fashion Spot