Someone once said that chance is the word we use for processes too complex for us to understand. While this quip is hardly helpful in a practical sense, in a very important way to be a Theist means to believe just this - that the universe is essentially ordered according to the nature and will of a supreme being, and that all events, no matter how seemingly chaotic, are in some sense governed by the will of the one that brought all things into being. On the micro-level, of course, this seemingly simple idea can spawn rather interesting and tricky thoughts!
I just watched The Science of Sleep last night, and I must say that I had a delightfully thoughtful viewing experience. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I have a weakness for "artsy" and somewhat melancholy indi films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (another Gondry film) and Garden State. But perhaps the most striking thing to me about this particular film was the tension raised by the very theme that I mentioned above... a theme that has become an increasingly common one in modern film (Gondry can't seem to get away from it).
At one of the key moments in "The Science of Sleep", the female antagonist (?) muses that "randomness is so difficult to achieve... things are always falling back into pattern and order". This sentiment serves as an essential tension in the film, as Gondry's characteristic interplay between imagination and reality works itself out in the story through the struggle of the main character (Stephane) - who is continually confusing the rather vivid imaginary events of his dreams with events in real life - to wade through his own imaginative commentary and arrive at a true understanding of the woman he loves. The filmmaker, of course, seems to indicate that chaos is the essential nature of reality, and that our difficulty in achieving understanding in our life is due to the fact that we, as creative beings, are always going about sorting these truly random details into structures and trying to make sense of the world. On the downside, of course, this stance must necessarily paint a bleak outlook of our chances for forming coherent "beliefs" about the world we live in. The cosmological confusion, however, is hardly the most interesting part of Gondry's project. In painting the struggle of Stephan, the movie rather brilliantly portrays the very real danger that we face as subcreative, organizing beings when we set out to make sense of the world around us.
Stephane's dreams, like many of our own, are epic amplifiers of feelings and events in his day to day existence , and are always "sorting" the elements of waking life into strange, sometimes hopeful, sometimes depressing, and often fantastic renderings. The difficulty that Gondry highlights here is the very real sense in which our life as limited human beings is a product of our own creative filtering, organization and commentary. While we may be certain of the existence of absolute order in the cosmos, we are not always objectively privy to an understanding of the true meaning or significance of the events that occur in every day life. Many details we simply ignore, and many interactions we choose to view, like Stephane, through the tinted lens of our own presuppositions.
This difficulty often gets us into trouble. Our prejudices can blind us to the good intentions of others. Our fears can keep us stubbornly trapped inside of a small construction of reality and can lead us to "villainize" and avoid true and beautiful elements that simply do not fit into the picture that we have made. We are constantly facing the danger in our lives of willingly letting our creative impulse overwhelm or confuse our perception.
So what does the film suggest as a antidote to this dilemma? What else, but an open eye and a moderation of the impulse to draw unwarranted conclusions. The universe is a remarkably complex thing, and it is fascinating to note the way in which our imagination can so brilliantly boil things down to delightfully tidy packages. It is important, however, that we remember to separate these simplifications of reality (these stories, if you will) from an ultimate understanding of the universe. No merely human story is an exhaustive retelling of reality. No ideology can capture the fullness of the God-created cosmos. When Stephane collapses in frustration at the end of the movie, he notices that his would-be-love has actually fulfilled every promise that he, in fear, did not believe she had fulfilled.
It is important that we remember, as much as possible, to trust in the wisdom of our all-powerful God, to doubt as much as possible our sinful and deceptive hearts, and to learn to keep an open mind about how the world is ultimately ordered.
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