Movies about Watching someone sleep
The day draws to a close. You slip into your comfiest pyjamas. A herbal tea in your favourite mug. Bed is calling and you fancy a movie to help you sleep but there are countless options and you don’t want to spend the next thirty minutes scrolling Netflix. Let us help.
Last Modified 15 September 2023 First Added 20 September 2022
Sometimes, drifting off while watching something helps us sleep sounder. Everyone has their go-to comfort film when it comes time to hit the hay, and we’re included in that! So, here’s our favourite film to fall asleep to. We’ll also touch on the science behind why films can both help us to wind down and limit our ability to drift off.
1. Spirited Away (2001)
A magical realist work of art, the cult classic Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki is arguably the most popular anime film of all time. With themes of abandonment and the dream space running right through its veins, this is a film perfect for promoting sleep. Boundlessly imaginative, the film centres around Chihiro, a ten-year-old girl who enters the world of Kami – spirits of Japanese folklore – in search of her parents.
2. Lost In Translation (2003)
Subtle and dreamy with no sharp edges, Lost In Translation is our second-highest recommendation for falling asleep. For those not so interested in lo-fi films, this one may be considered boring or slow, and so ideal for helping you odpočinout si. The story centres around a famous celebrity who travels to Tokyo to film a whiskey advertisement and ends up striking an unusual bond with a young woman left alone while her husband is busy working.
The themes of loss and loneliness are strong and it could be argued the film is a masterpiece of space and emptiness: achieved through limited dialogue and a quietly brilliant soundtrack. Clearly, this lack of direct action is great for helping you to relax.
Critically, the film won numerous awards including an Oscar for Best Writing and Screenplay, a BAFTA for Best Performance by an Actress in A Leading Role and plenty, plenty more.
3. The Railway Children (1970)
Gather the family, grab some sleep-inducing snacks and embrace this classic British film before bedtime. Sincere, enchanting and atmospheric, The Railway Children is great for family sleepovers when you need to wind down energetic youngsters before they trot off to bed.
Based on the novel of the same name by E. Nesbit, the film tells the story of the Waterbury Children, who, having recently moved to a small house by a railway station, occupy their time watching trains roll past. Their father, recently imprisoned on false charges, needs his children to come to his aid. With the help of a local policeman, they set about saving their father in the hope of reuniting the family.
4. Drive (2011)
Another film to switch off to that’s filled with space and silence, Drive is a “visceral take on art-house action” that delves into the criminal underworld of a neo-noir Los Angeles. Occasionally interrupting that silence and lack of dialogue is a stunning soundtrack of lo-fi beats and synth-wave perfect for helping you turn the lights down on your day.
Granted, there are some dark and gruesome scenes definitely not for the faint-hearted but this is a film all about the slow build-up, making it perfect if you plan to be asleep before the climactic final scene.
Telling the tale of a car mechanic and stuntman who moonlights as a getaway driver, Drive is a film about what happens in the shadows. Many scenes take in the open roads of night-time and with frequent references to old-school Hollywood Noir, this is definitely a film to watch in the depths of the evening. And despite the very action-movie plotline, this is a film filled with dreamscape, sepia-tinged cinematography guaranteed to help you unwind at the end of a stressful day.
5. Fargo (1996)
The snowy, still landscapes of Fargo, North Dakota play an important role in this cinematic masterpiece by the Coen Brothers. A slow-burn of noir-crime drama, this is an ideal film for nodding off to. The story centres around a collection of characters committing every level of crime, including kidnapping and murder.
Despite the dark nature of the crimes, Fargo is deemed a black comedy and is often interlaced with humorous, light-hearted moments. Most importantly for sleep though, it’s the slow-moving scenes, the open roads, and the drawn-back Minnesota accent which make this a real winner for inducing sleep.
6. Trilogie Pán prstenů (2001-2003)
One of the twentieth century’s most-loved epic fantasy trilogies, the Lord of The Rings is most likely a film you have seen before, and perhaps on more than one occasion. This makes it absolutely perfect for helping induce sleep as you don’t have to pay too much attention but won’t end up confused as to what’s going on.
The Fellowship of The Ring contains the least battle and action scenes and is therefore our best recommendation of the set. That said, Two Towers has frequent scenes of a long walk towards Mordor which is low in dialogue and slow-paced.
7. O’ Brother, Where Art Thou (2000)
Another Coen Brother’s movie to make the list, this sepia-tinted, modern revision of Homer’s The Odyssey blends reality and myth in a happy-go-lucky, light-hearted plotline. A comedy-drama starring George Clooney and John Turturro, O Brother Where Art Thou tells the tale of three convicts who escape their chains and set off on a long journey to find £1.2 million in cash.
Their journey sees them navigate the open landscapes of rural Mississippi and it’s this which helps it make our list. Long scenes of walks in the open countryside are great for inducing sleep. There’s even a very dreamlike sequence based on the Sirens myth which is famously known for lulling all who hear their songs.
8. Fantasy (1940)
We’ll hand the mic over to Dumnem from Reddit for this review of the classic Disney art experiment in all things phantasmagorical:
Fantasia is a good movie to fall asleep to. Not because of the music, but because it’s incredibly boring.
Honesty it’s like being in a classroom and being lectured by a dry professor about the moral dilemma of ostrich farming. It doesn’t make much sense, it seems superfluous, and to your sleep deprived and caffeine addled brain it seems entirely made up, but you’re somehow sure that if you rest your eyes for a moment it might actually make sense. Then you’re asleep.
Our own research highlighted that the peaks and troughs within the soundtrack, alongside bright and lively animations, may detract some from sleep. This is why we’ve placed this as our last recommendation. The reason it makes the list is down its surreal nature which may aid our ability to relax.
Classic lo-fi films to induce sleep:
While the term lo-fi is most commonly used in relation to audio, there’s a rising interest in “lo-fi films” which basically means soft-edged, nostalgia-heavy films which are great for relaxing. Whether that’s to play in the background whilst studying or to help relaxation, these films are great for softening the effects of stress and helping detract from worry and anxiety. Here’s our top 5 lo-fi films to help you fall asleep:
- The Secret Garden
- Čaroděj ze země Oz
- Klub snídaně
- Karlík a továrna na čokoládu
- Ferris Buellers Day Off
Do Disney films help you unwind?
A common part of most of our childhoods, Disney films offer a multitude of benefits for helping promote sleep. We all know the plotlines and characters and this ensures we don’t have to pay too much attention as the film progresses. There’s also something to be said about the feel-good factor which is present in all Walt Disney tales. Here’s our top 5 Disney films to help you fall asleep:
- Snivá hudební kompozice
- Kráska a zvíře
- Kniha džungle
- Hloupý film
- Cizinci hlubin
Do black and white reduce blue light?
According to Healthline, blue light is reduced with black and white screen mode.
“Dark mode is intended to reduce blue light exposure and help with eye strain that comes with prolonged screen time.”
As blue light can delay sleep, it may be wise to choose monochrome movies to help you unwind. Here’s our top 5 suggestions:
- Manhattan
- The Artist
- Lighthouse
- Malcolm & Marie
- Belfast
22 Movies That Explore The World of Sleep
In the past few months, the whole world has been confined to their homes. With nothing else to do, the favourite pass time for most people is eating, sleeping, or watching movies. I have been especially dependent on movies for my entertainment. I finally got the time to watch all the movies on my wishlist.
Having watched so many movies, I noticed that movies have been made on all possible subjects. They say art imitates life and I found it true for the most part. There is a cinematic representation for everything we as humans experience, be it happiness, sorrow, friendship, love, loss. Everything has a movie made on it!
This led me to question, what is the one aspect of my life that I experience the most? The answer was clear – sleep. Sleep is a very important part of my life, more since social distancing became a norm. It is significant enough that multiple people have used it as a base for their cinema. So why not take a look at all the movies made about sleep?
So here are some of the best movies made on the topic of sleep.
1. Taxikář
Taxi Driver is a Martin Scorsese directed masterpiece, which garnered immense acclaim including multiple academy award nominations. In this psychological thriller crime drama, Robert De Niro stars as Travis Bickle, a 26-year-old Vietnam War veteran. Travis becomes a nighttime taxi driver to battle his chronic insomnia.
2. Noční můra v Elm Street
This cult classic is often considered to be one of the greatest horror films ever made. The original movie came out in 1984 and was remade with the same name in 2010. The movie narrates the story of four teenagers who have nightmares of being killed by a monstrous spirit of a slain child murderer and are subsequently killed in reality.
3. Krajina snů
This 1984 science-fiction adventure film narrates the life of a young psychic. He is able to master a technique that allows him to link with the minds of others by projecting himself into the subconscious during REM sleep. The project knows as dreamscape is made with the intention to diagnose and cure sleep disorders and nightmares. However, it is soon hijacked by a powerful government agent.
4. Bezesný v Seattlu
This rom-com stars Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan and is based on a story by Jeff Arch. The movie was a commercial as well as critical success. It is the story of a recently widowed man and his son’s attempts to find his father a partner.
5. Město ztracených dětí
The city of Lost Children is a sci-fi movie made in 1995. In the movie, a creature called Krank is created by a scientist. Krank kidnaps children from a nearby town to steal their dreams because he is unable to dream, which causes him to age prematurely.
6. Dream for an Insomniac
This romantic comedy follows the life of a girl named Frankie who suffers from insomnia. Frankie’s parents were killed in a car accident when she was young and since then she hasn’t been able to sleep through the night. She eventually falls in love with a writer named David who attempts to cure her insomnia. However, Frankie soon finds out that he is engaged to another woman.
7. Nespavost
Insomnia is a 1997 Norwegian thriller film that was remade by Christopher Nolan in 2002. The movie is about a police detective investigating a murder in a town. During the investigation, he mistakenly shoots his own partner and subsequently attempts to cover up his blunder. The title of the film refers to his inability to sleep as a result of his guilt.
8. Class Trip
Class Trip is a French movie based on a book by Emmanuel Carrère. The movie is about a young boy named Nicolas, who is anxious about his school’s ski trip. During the trip, he has various nightmares and visions which take over him.
9. Klub rváčů
Fight club is a 1999 cult classic based on a novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. It was cited as one of the most controversial and talked-about films of 1999. The movie depicts actor Edward Norton as an insomniac, who is discontent with his white-collar job. He meets a soap salesman Tyler Durden and forms an underground fight club.
10. In Dreams
This 1999 American psychological horror film was directed by Neil Jordan. The story is about Claire Cooper, a suburban housewife who illustrates children’s books. She soon learns that she has a dreamworld connection to a serial murderer, and must stop him from killing again.
11. Mrtvý vzhůru
This 2001 Canadian-American thriller follows the life of a marketing executive named Desmond Caine. He suffers from a chronic and bizarre form of insomnia because of which he spends his nights walking the streets alone. One night he witnesses a brutal murder and somehow finds himself as the prime suspect of the murder.
12. Waking Life
Waking Life is a 2001 American experimental philosophical animated docu-fiction film. The movie is about a young man who wanders through a succession of dream-like realities wherein he encounters a series of individuals who engage in insightful philosophical discussions with him. The film explores a wide range of philosophical issues, including the nature of reality, dreams, and lucid dreams, consciousness, the meaning of life, etc.
13. No Rest for the Brave
No rest for the brave is a French / Austrian comedy film. The movie follows the life of an angsty teenage boy named Basile. Basile is convinced that if he falls asleep he will die. This leads him to a road trip laden with his hallucinations.
14. Narco
Narco is a French comedy movie. The film narrates the life of Gus, who finds it difficult to keep a job as he suffers from narcolepsy. He falls asleep all the time and has dreams about supermen from comics.
15. Strojník
The Machinist is a psychological thriller starring Christian Bale. The film follows the life of Trevor Reznik, a machinist who is responsible for a serious workplace accident involving a co-worker. This accident is caused due to his insomnia and psychological problems. After Reznik is fired, he goes into a downward spiral of guilt, paranoia, delusion, and begins to doubt his own sanity.
16. 20 Centimeters
This Spanish film is about a transgender woman named Marieta. She suffers from narcolepsy which causes her to fall asleep at any sudden moment, and each time she dreams she is the star of musical numbers where she is free to sing and dance as her true self.
17. Cashback
This British rom-com drama depicts the life of an aspiring artist, Ben Willis. Ben develops insomnia after a painful breakup with his girlfriend. To deal with this, he starts working at a supermarket at night where his imagination takes wings.
18. Věčný svit neposkvrněné mysli
This 2004 sci-fi romantic drama stars Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet as star-crossed lovers. They use the services of a company that removes memories of a person during their sleep. The protagonist, Joel spends most of the movie trying to preserve his memories while in a dreamlike state.
19 Počátek
Inception is an Academy Award-winning sci-fi movie directed by Christopher Nolan and stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a professional thief who uses dream-sharing technology for his heists. He steals information by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets.
20. Sleepwalk With Me
Sleepwalk With Me is a 2012 American independent comedy film written, directed, and starring Mike Birbiglia. Based on a true story, the movie depicts the struggles of an aspiring comedian in denial about his career, the fate of his relationship, and his sleepwalking problem.
21. Spící krása
Sleeping Beauty is an animated Disney musical based on the children’s story of the same name by Charles Perrault. The story is the tale of Princess Aurora who is cursed by the evil fairy Maleficent and later tricked into pricking her finger by the spindle of a spinning wheel. Due to this, she goes into an eternal sleep only to be broken by the kiss of her true love.
22. Milá Zindagi
This 2016 Bollywood coming on age drama follows the life of a budding cinematographer named Kaira. She is an independent and ambitious girl but is very discontented with her life. She finds it difficult to fall asleep and thus goes to Dr. Jehangir a free-spirited psychologist who helps her to gain a new perspective on her life.
Nejčastější dotazy
What are the movies that make you go to sleep?
When I am very tired but not quite ready to pass out yet, I depend on easy to watch movies to make me feel calm and help me fall asleep. Some of such movies are, Last holiday, Clueless, Finding Dory, before sunrise, Annie, Bridget Jone’s diary, E.T, Twilight, Think like a man, 500 days of summer, High school musical, How to lose a guy in 10 days, He is just not that into you, Sex and the City, Pride and Prejudice.
Which horror movie made you lose sleep?
Some of the scariest movies I know are Death Note (2017), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Halloween (1978), and The Thing (1982), The Blair Witch Project, The Ring (2002), Conjuring (2013) and Oculus (2013).
How do you watch scary movies and sleep peacefully?
It is normal to find it difficult to go to sleep after watching a horror movie, especially at night. However, you must train your mind to think of movies as just that, a form of entertainment. Do not let your mind wander and overthink. If you find it difficult to fall asleep after watching a scary movie, you should follow it by watching something lighthearted and funny to distract yourself.
Doporučená fotografie od Vláďa Karpovič od Pexels
Napsáno Tuhina Sahai
Tuhina Sahai is a law student studying at Symbiosis Law School, Pune. She enjoys meeting new people and making friends. She finds as much comfort in going on outdoor adventures as she does in sitting in her room with a book, sipping tea. She is an avid reader and enjoys the works of authors John Grisham, Khaled Hosseini, Paulo Coelho, Arundhati Roy, etc. She is passionate about music and art.
You can catch her at –
Movies about Watching someone sleep
Autoři
- Aaron Schokman PhD Candidate, University of Sydney
- Nick Glozier Professor of Psychological Medicine, BMRI & Disciplne of Psychiatry, University of Sydney
Prohlášení o zveřejnění
Aaron Schokman is a member of the Sleep Health Foundation’s Consumer Reference Council
Nick Glozier has received funding from the Australian Research Council and NHRMC for sleep health research, consults to organisations that provide digital and pharmacological insomnia treatments, and has IP in a sleep app.
Partneři
University of Sydney provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.
This article is part of The Conversation’s six-part series on insomnia, which charts the rise of insomnia during industrialisation to sleep apps today. Read other articles in the series here.
Hollywood appears fascinated by sleep’s impact on the mind and body. Blockbuster movies featuring someone living with insomnia include Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Fight Club (1999) and Insomnia (2002).
But how well do these and other portrayals compare with what it’s really like to live with insomnia?
As we’ll see, most movies tend to either minimise or exaggerate symptoms. Insomnia is rarely depicted as a treatable illness. And these portrayals have implications for the estimated one in three of us with at least one insomnia symptom.
Zpátky ve skutečném světě
Insomnia is a common sleep disorder where a person struggles to fall asleep, stay asleep, or wakes up too early – despite having adequate opportunity for sleep.
Around 5% of adults experience significant insomnia to the degree that it causes distress or impairs daily life.
It’s a common misconception that insomnia is only a night-time issue. Insomnia can impact your ability to stay awake and alert during the day. It can also affect your mental health.
At work, you might be more prone to accidents, more forgetful, or make poorer decisions. At home, you might be irritable or short with your friends and family.
So what is it like living with insomnia? Apart from the effects of poor sleep quality, many people experience anxiety or dread about the night ahead from the moment they wake up. From early in the day, people plan how they can improve their sleep that night.
A review found people living with insomnia felt their sleep concerns were often trivialised or misunderstood by health-care professionals, and stigmatised by others.
Movies can minimise symptoms …
Nicholas Galitzine’s character in the recent romcom Red, White and Royal Blue (2023) has insomnia. We’re briefly told he struggles to fall asleep at night. However, we never see any meaningful impact on his life or depiction of the difficulty living with insomnia entails.
That said, minimising the impact of insomnia can have benefits. It shows insomnia is an invisible illness, doesn’t have obvious visual symptoms and anyone can have it.
But this can perpetuate the expectation someone with insomnia should be able to function unencumbered. Or it can fuel the misconception having insomnia may be beneficial, as in Insomnia Is Good for You (1957).
… or exaggerate symptoms
But most Hollywood portrayals of insomnia tend to depict the most extreme cases. These usually feature insomnia as a symptom of another condition rather than a disorder itself, as is commonly experienced.
These movies tend to be psychological thrillers. Here, insomnia is often used as an enigma to keep the audience guessing about which events are real or figments of a character’s imagination.
Take The Machinist (2004), for example. The main character is emaciated, ostracised and plagued by paranoia, hallucinations and delusions. It’s only towards the end of the movie we learn his insomnia may be the result of a psychiatric disorder, such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
In The Machinist, the main character has paranoia, hallucinations and delusions.
Hollywood’s focus on extreme cases of insomnia is a recurring pattern (for instance, Fight Club 1999, Lucid 2005).
It’s understandable why Hollywood latches onto these extreme portrayals – to entertain us. Yet these portrayals of insomnia as something more severe or threatening, like psychosis, can increase anxiety or stigma among people living with insomnia.
While it’s true other medical conditions including mental illnesses can lead to insomnia, insomnia often exists on its own. Insomnia is often caused by more mundane things like too much stress, lifestyle and habits, or longer daylight hours at higher latitudes (such as in Insomnia, 2002).
Something these exaggerated portrayals do well is highlight the impact sleep deprivation can have on safety, albeit extremely dramatised. Regardless of profession, not getting enough sleep at night can substantially impact cognitive function, increasing the chance of making a mistake.
In Insomnia, one character has insomnia because of extended daylight hours.
Movies rarely depict treatment
It is rare to see insomnia depicted as a health condition requiring medical care. Very few characters struggling with insomnia seek or receive help for it.
An exception is the narrator in Fight Club (1999). But he has to pretend to have other illnesses to receive therapy, again suggesting insomnia is not a legitimate condition.
The narrator in Fight Club pretends to have other illnesses to receive therapy for insomnia.
Why does accurate representation matter?
Many people only learn about the symptoms and impact of sleep disorders through pop culture and film. These portrayals can affect how others think about these disorders and can impact how people living with these disorders think about themselves.
Uniform and stereotypical portrayals of insomnia can also impact people’s likelihood of seeking help.
Most of these films show young or middle-aged men experiencing insomnia. Yet women are more likely to have insomnia than men. Insomnia is also more common in older adults, people with a lower socioeconomic background and those living alone. People at higher risk of developing insomnia might not recognise their risk or symptoms if their experience doesn’t match what they’ve seen.
Můžeme to udělat lépe
While the reality of living with insomnia may not be particularly cinematic, filmmakers can surely do better than using it as a convenient plot point.
There are a number of main characters living with different health conditions across pop culture. For instance, the movie Manchester by the Sea (2016) features someone with prolonged grief disorder and the TV series Atypical (2017-2021) features someone’s experience living with autism.
But if you’re looking for an accurate portrayal of insomnia, Hollywood still has some way to go. It’s about time insomnia is depicted in a way that accurately reflects people’s experiences.
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