Film Review: "Sleeping Beauty" (***1/2)

"We were just talking about which one of us is going to fuck you."

It's interesting what can count as joyful and light when put into a certain context. I have yet to find a film to make the subject of rape seem light in comparison to further suffering, but my patience will keep me on that a bit longer. "Sleeping Beauty" starts off with a group of short vignettes, between a doctor slipping a long string down our protagonist's throat, a routine day of work, and then cocaine and prostitution at a bar. In this process, the film sets its own stage quite exactly, with a rightly offset mix of intense discomfort and odd enjoyment. It's just a bit of 6 minutes, but it works in its contained form to strike a tone without forwarding story just yet.

The coke snorting, table waiting, part-time prostitute is Lucy, played by Emily Browning who you might remember from "Sucker Punch", but it's better if not. Consider this her breakthrough, which it really is in comparison. And while you may imagine those 6 minutes are more than enough to fulfill a satisfying character, she has much more responsibilities than just that, without getting too far into it. She is a bold personification of just about every person at that stage in their life. Between the contemplative and self-constructive years of youth and the solid inextinguishable stage of adulthood. Not with purpose. Not asking for purpose. Half-baked, though the film is anything but.

Cannes Coverage 2011: "Sleeping Beauty"

If this seems a bit redundant, it's because I've actually posted this already. I posted it about two days ago, right after the film actually debuted at Cannes Film Festival. Then Blogger underwent maintenance and wiped away a few of my posts which I then had to recreate, including this one. I'd say no hard feelings, but this has been causing me one hell of an afternoon. Not at all what I had hoped for waking up at noon, but it's a start to the day. What pains me is that I was so sure that I had nailed what I'd written the first time, that it's such a chore to have to go back and do it again. I really enjoy writing about such things, but not to the point of repetition.

So even though it has been a whole two days since its premiere, and word has already spread on to bigger and better things, Sleeping Beauty was still one of the most talked about films heading into the festival. I knew from the trailer that released on the day it was announced as a Cannes competitor, this was going to be one to watch for. I could tell that Julia Leigh wasn't about to play it safe with her film, and that it was going to be one to divide critics. Within hours of the film's premiere, such divisive word had already broken out. Some call it great, while others call it pointless. I look forward to figuring that out for myself. What I can be sure of is a film that will shock me, which deserves acknowledgment for that capability alone.

Guy Lodge (In Contention), ***1/2: "'Humane' might be a stretch for a film this severe, this stainless-steel in its makeup, but Leigh is plainly troubled with as well as by her protagonist: Lucy may be stingy with words and expressions alike, but she’s no blankly symbolic victim, dropping sparse fragments of backstory that allude to so many years of interfolded error, neglect and over-defensive self-treatment. As played by 22 year-old Emily Browning in a startling breakthrough turn (forget Sucker Punch, if you haven’t already) that balances a child’s wan irresolution with short, bitter stabs of wit, she’s a calculatedly incomplete being — which makes her drugged, unconscious debasement at the hands of a string of wealthy older clients, seeking only tactile sensations with no emotional returns, that much harder to watch."

"Sleeping Beauty" Poster

As Cannes continues its approach with ease and controlled anticipation, material from the competing films is being put up for promotional sake. I've already expressed interest in Julia Leigh's Sleeping Beauty, with a certain apprehension at the talents of the questionable Emily Browning. Still, this poster maintains a sense of sensual and stylistic allure that has made the film subject of debate since the trailer hit the internet. Take a look at the full poster after the jump!

R-Rated Trailer: Sleeping Beauty

It's gratifying to get trailers as strange and captivating as this, reminding us that the big-budget Hollywood circuit isn't the only place where movies are being made. I'm not sure if these films would be so interesting if they didn't come so relatively out of the blue. I'm intrigued by the film's premise, which puts Emily Browning in her second prostitute role this year. It's impossible to tell anything from Sleeping Beauty because Julia Leigh is generally new to this business, and you never know when a new talent will fail or succeed. Still, this is certainly a sensuous and lovely trailer to look at.

Sleeping Beauty from Pollen Digital on Vimeo.