> REVIEW
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Sleeping Beauty (2011)
As we sleep…
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By Carol Vine | October 2011
Revolver©
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Julia Leigh
The opening scene to Julia Leigh’s debut feature, clinically depicting a “penetration” almost too awful to watch, is brilliant and promises much. We see young student Lucy (Emily Browning), strapped for cash, undergoing a medical trial – one of her many dismal sources of income – that involves a long tube being inserted down her throat as she bravely struggles (more effectively than the audience) not to gag. The rigidly composed shot, and sheer brightly-lit pragmatism of the exercise establishes a sense of unease that permeates the film thereafter.
We’re then given a somewhat overloaded “establishing” sequence, where we see the full extent of the dreariness of Lucy’s life as she tries to make ends meat – the boring office-lacky job with the archetypal older/less attractive/jealous bitch of a boss; the greasy, tedious café; the sex for (not much) money with seedy businessmen. Lucy’s no innocent, and strangely, from the offset she seems oddly unresponsive to her horrible life.
Lucy’s life changes with an answer to an ad in the student paper that leads firstly to exclusive silver service waitressing at high-end dinner parties for the rich and kinky, and then, far more disturbingly to the role that the title offers – to be drugged, and asleep while wealthy clients have their way with her. They can do anything, except “penetrate”, which echoes with nice irony the fact that Lucy has allowed physical penetration of all kinds, and doesn’t see her body as a cow-shed, let alone a temple.
Though the elderly clients aren’t able to do too much, the idea is truly macabre. The tone is sinister and Leigh achieves a sneaking sense of malice in much the same way as Michael Haneke might, but with a good deal less tension. For such an intriguing premise, however, many of the actual scene setups are disappointingly familiar – the high class hooking, sleezy men in suits lacking in dimension. Even the “silver service” scenario was ever so slightly reminiscent of Passolini’s Salo (without the cruelty and lack of consent). Many scenes are graphically uncomfortable and provide a voyeuristic feel, yet it’s a distinctly “unsexy” film.
The problem is Lucy, who, for a young, gorgeous thing, at college and in the prime of life, somehow finds herself in an emotional vacuum. We’re given reference to her alcoholic mother, her dysfunctional past relationship with a lover – and although this bleak history shapes itself in a lack of care about her own body or safety, Lucy remains curiously blank and unknowable. This blandness in the protagonist throughout has an enormously detaching effect.
But perhaps this is the idea. There’s a blanket theme of “separateness” that pervades this film. The “detaching” is aided by an obvious, and much-referenced Haneke influence – in the controlled, almost antagonistically static shots. There are isolated scenes that have no life/explanation before or after in the narrative. We even have the breaking down of the cinematic fourth wall, so to speak, with one character delivering a long monologue directly to camera. It’s rather beautiful, but difficult to shake the sense that it should be moving, but isn’t, not quite.
A passive character throughout, Lucy’s sudden “need” to find out what happens to her whilst sleeping seems incongruous, unsubstantiated by any of her previous desires or actions. Her situation is established, but not who she is or how she really feels about how her life is unfolding. Her only friend is a creepy, alcoholic character called the Bird Man, who eventually does incite some emotion from Lucy, but even this seems unfounded in the narrative and melts away as quickly as it came. Ultimately, her entire journey is questionable.
The theme of death cannot be ignored. The ultimate separation. The death of the spirit leading to physical death (through choice), which we see twice, and both times endowed with the final comfort of a beautiful naked girl – as if this is the thing, finally, most important to men. There’s no real danger of straying into Germaine Greer territory here, but the “sleeping beauty” bedroom scenes are highly unsettling, increasing in how pathetic and awful the male clients seem. Leigh effectively renders the phrasal relation of “sex and death” a fallacy (no pun intended). There’s no sex here. Nothing like sex at all.
The ending is a surprise and almost redeems, in its infuriating boldness, many of the film’s flaws. We’re left with the knowledge that, love or hate it (there probably won’t be much in between), this is a filmmaker with conviction, an undeniable voice, and balls of steel. We can expect further, far greater works from her.
Script…………………………………………………………………………………………….
Creates a strong suggestion of unease with restraint and subtext, but feels linear
and at times hammers the dramatic point home a little too hard. 2
Direction………………………………………………………………………………………..
Fiercely confident in compositions and theme, and infused with tension, but fails
to create dramatic/emotional substance. 3
Verdict…………………………………………………………………………………………..
A bold piece of cinema that will no doubt divide audiences. An uncomfortable, compelling debut, that ultimately falls short of the possibilities of the premise.
3
