Sleeping Beauty (2011 film): Difference between revisions
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== Plot == |
== Plot == |
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Lucy ([[Emily Browning|Browning]]) is introduced as |
Lucy ([[Emily Browning|Browning]]) is introduced as a university student who holds a number of odd jobs; she volunteers as a test subject at the university lab and works as a cleaner/server at a small diner and a copy girl at an unnamed office. She also is seen at a high-class bar offering herself as a sex partner (it is never shown for certain whether she is paid or not). She has a room where her landlord obviously doesn't like her, and she spends her time visiting an aloof man known only as Birdman ([[Ewen Leslie|Leslie]]). He is attracted to her, but she doesn't return the affection, though she does appear happier with him than at any other time. |
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Lucy responds to an ad and is invited to meet with Clara ([[Rachael Blake|Blake]]) who describes the job; freelance [[silver service]] in [[lingerie]] provided by her group. Lucy agrees with no hesitation and Clara says that there is no penetration involved, despite Lucy making it clear that isn't a problem for her. She lies about using drugs and knowing how to do silver service waitressing, but Clara accepts her anyway. |
Lucy responds to an ad and is invited to meet with Clara ([[Rachael Blake|Blake]]) who describes the job; freelance [[silver service]] in [[lingerie]] provided by her group. Lucy agrees with no hesitation and Clara says that there is no penetration involved, despite Lucy making it clear that isn't a problem for her. She lies about using drugs and knowing how to do silver service waitressing, but Clara accepts her anyway. |
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Revision as of 02:49, 25 February 2012
| Sleeping Beauty | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Julia Leigh |
| Screenplay by | Julia Leigh |
| Produced by | Jessica Brentnall Timothy White Sasha Burrows Jamie Hilton |
| Starring | Emily Browning Rachael Blake Ewen Leslie Michael Dorman Mirrah Foulkes Henry Nixon |
| Cinematography | Geoffrey Simpson |
| Edited by | Nick Meyers |
| Music by | Ben Frost |
Production company | |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 102 minutes |
| Country | Template:Film Australia |
| Language | English |
Sleeping Beauty is a 2011 Australian erotic drama film written and directed by Julia Leigh. It is her debut as a director.[1] It stars Emily Browning as Lucy, a young university student who performs a special type of erotic service.
Plot
Lucy (Browning) is introduced as a university student who holds a number of odd jobs; she volunteers as a test subject at the university lab and works as a cleaner/server at a small diner and a copy girl at an unnamed office. She also is seen at a high-class bar offering herself as a sex partner (it is never shown for certain whether she is paid or not). She has a room where her landlord obviously doesn't like her, and she spends her time visiting an aloof man known only as Birdman (Leslie). He is attracted to her, but she doesn't return the affection, though she does appear happier with him than at any other time.
Lucy responds to an ad and is invited to meet with Clara (Blake) who describes the job; freelance silver service in lingerie provided by her group. Lucy agrees with no hesitation and Clara says that there is no penetration involved, despite Lucy making it clear that isn't a problem for her. She lies about using drugs and knowing how to do silver service waitressing, but Clara accepts her anyway.
Lucy is seen getting beauty treatments and showing off her silver-service pouring skills for Birdman before arriving for the event. She is the only girl dressed in white lingerie which mostly covers her breasts; the other girls present seem much older and have cut-out lingerie. The event is a formal dinner party for five elderly gentlemen and one woman. Lucy serves drinks throughout and is then excused after having served brandy to the guests. She goes home with the money she made, counts out her rent, then burns that money.
After at least one other session as a serving girl, Lucy gets a call from Clara's assistant Thomas (Eden Falk) for a different request. Lucy is driven to a country mansion where Clara informs her that she'll drink some tea and then fall into a deep sleep. Later we see Lucy lying in a large bed, sedated, as Clara leads in the man who hosted the first dinner party. After reminding him of the no penetration rule, he strips and caresses Lucy's body.
Lucy's personal life begins changing at that point. Birdman confesses that he's not going to make it, begging off detox when it is suggested by Lucy. While in his apartment, Lucy asks if Birdman will marry her, to which he casually replies yes. It becomes clear that neither is sincere about holding up their end of the proposal and that this is more of a running joke. Lucy is also evicted from her room and gets a much more expensive apartment instead. After two more sessions sleeping at Clara's house (during one of which the man burns her slightly with a cigarette), Birdman calls her; he has overdosed on drugs and she visits him as he dies. At his funeral, Lucy talks to a former acquaintance and blandly asks him if he'll marry her echoing her earlier casual banter with Birdman. Unlike Birdman, he believes her to be sincere in her request and is dumbfounded. He refuses, citing a previous failed relationship with her, his new one that is working well, and several character flaws he observes in Lucy.
Shortly after, she is fired from her office job. Lucy then buys a small concealable camera at an electronics store and tests it during one of her classes. At her next assignment with Clara, she asks if she can see what happens while she is asleep, but Clara refuses, saying it will put her clients at risk. However, when Lucy is in the bed, she awakes and regurgitates the small camera and places it in the room, then returns to bed and falls asleep. The first man is the client again, but this time he also takes the tea for sleeping, intentionally overdosing. Clara comes in to wake Lucy and can't, eventually having to use mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Lucy wakes and sees the naked man lying dead beside her and begins screaming.
Cast
- Emily Browning as Lucy
- Rachael Blake as Clara
- Ewen Leslie as Birdmann
- Michael Dorman as Cook
- Mirrah Foulkes as Sophie
- Henry Nixon as Mark
Production
The Sleeping Beauty script made the 2008 Black List of unproduced screenplays grabbing attention in Hollywood.[2] In September 2009, the project was approved for funding from Screen Australia.[1] In February 2010, it was announced that Emily Browning would play the lead role.[3] Mia Wasikowska was originally cast as Lucy but dropped out in favour of playing the title role in the acclaimed version of Jane Eyre.[4]
Reception
A trailer was released the same day the film was announced for the main competition of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. The film premiered at the festival on 12 May as the first competition entry to be screened.[5][6] In a review from the festival, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called the film "Technically elegant with vehemence and control ... Emily Browning gives a fierce and powerful performance ... There is force and originality in Leigh's work".[7] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter called it "Soporific in every sense", with the reservation: "Cannes audiences tend to be more forgiving in sections geared to emerging talent, like Un Certain Regard or Directors' Fortnight. Outside the glare of competition, even this pretentious exercise might have earned some appreciation for its rigorously cold aesthetic".[8]
Other reviewers have been intrigued: "Titillates, terrifies and haunts in equal measure", said Sukhdev Sandu in the UK's The Telegraph.[9] Fionnuala Halligan in Screen International wrote "Browning has gone the distance for her director and together, they have delivered something here that sometimes catches your breath."[10] Salon's Andrew O'Hehir's found it "Gorgeous, opaque and disturbing."[11] James Rocchi in Indiewire was also a fan, saying: "This is, in many ways, the kind of film you only get at a major festival, a hothouse flower, beautiful and delicate and yet surprisingly hardy and potentially toxic."[12]
Critics who were less than impressed included James Berardinelli, of Reelviews, saying that "with an emotional temperature approaching absolute zero, Leigh finds it difficult to accomplish more than present a pastiche of artistic images signifying little."[13] Likewise, Peter Debruge, of Variety, described the film as frustrating, "more tiresome than anything," and having "a distinctly first-draft feel."[14]
References
- ^ a b "Latest feature films approved by Screen Australia". Screen Australia. 7 September 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
- ^ "The 2008 Black List – The Hottest Unproduced Screenplays of 2008" slashfilm.com
- ^ Bodey, Michael (3 February 2010). "Who's who in Tim Winton's Cloudstreet". The Australian. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
- ^ http://www.firstshowing.net/2010/emily-browning-replaces-mia-wasikowska-in-sleeping-beauty/
- ^ "Watch: Trailer For Cannes Entry Sleeping Beauty Starring Emily Browning". 14 April 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
- ^ "Horaires 2011" (PDF). festival-cannes.com (in French). Cannes Film Festival. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
- ^ Bradshaw, Peter (12 May 2011). "Cannes 2011 review: Sleeping Beauty". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
- ^ Rooney, David (11 May 2011). "Sleeping Beauty: Cannes Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
- ^ Sandu, Saukhdev (12 May 2011). "Cannes 2011: Sleeping Beauty, review". The Telegraph. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
- ^ Halligan, Fionnuala (12 May 2011). "Sleeping Beauty". Screen Daily. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
- ^ O'Hehir, Andrew (12 May 2011). "Cannes: A creepy, erotic retelling of Sleeping Beauty". Salon.com. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
- ^ Rocchi, James (11 May 2011). "Cannes Review: Sleeping Beauty Starring Emily Browning Seduces With The Pervading Power Of A Dream". Indiewire. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
- ^ Berardinelli, James (11 February 2011). "Sleeping Beauty: Movie Review". Reelviews. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
- ^ Debruge, Peter (5 November 2011). "Sleeping Beauty: Movie Review". Variety. Retrieved 26 December 2011.