As the credits came up at the end of Sleeping Beauty the audience reaction was immediate, half chuckled nervously and I heard the word "What?" thrown around a bit. The other half stared ahead, absorbing what we'd just seen. It's clear that this will divide audiences.
Julia Leigh's directorial debut from her own screenplay follows the emotionally complex character Lucy (Emily Browning), a university student with a multitude of part-time jobs and a social life that can only be described as controversial. It's made clear early on that Lucy has no solid relationships, the only friend she's seen out with her seems more like a madam than a friend, her kinder flatmate is too weak to defend her from her male counter-part, her unseen mother is an abusive alcoholic chasing Lucy for money and her father is either long absent or passed away. There is only 'Birdman', a young man slowly dying from alcoholism cast away from Lucy's ex-boyfriends circle of friends. His company seems to be cathartic for Lucy, an alcoholic that is kind and not abusive like her mother.
When Lucy responds to an ad in the University paper for 'Silver Service Waitress' she is introduced to Clara (Rachael Blake), a 'madam' for want of a better word. Rachael Blake's performance is tonally perfect, her Clara is elegant and seemingly disenchanted with her work. When she gives Lucy details of each task she is too perform, it always comes with a warning, each step is explained with an obvious and painful personal knowledge of the job. This sort of work is new for Lucy, it's forces social interaction which she was adept at avoiding in all her other jobs. And it also forces her into a position of submission, not at all something she is used to in her usual role as the dominate sexual partner in her string of empty encounters with middle aged, middle-class businessmen.
Lucy's role in the Sleeping Chamber comes across as something akin to a hearthstone where wealthy old men gather to realize or recapture feelings long since lost or denied to them, intimacy, sexual dominance and physical strength are examples of themes her subdued body are exposed to, even in this secret world of control they still fail and it's Lucy that absorbs the cost.
Nearly every important scene and transaction in the film is hidden in subtext, Leigh makes the audience work to make the connections and draw conclusions by dropping breadcrumbs and leaving enough for us to see the whole story without having to resort to spoon fed exposition. It makes for an interesting contrast, characters that feel entirely real viewed through cold artistic lens. This approach does present a challenge not only to the filmmakers but the audience, Lucy is very much a curious protagonist. She's cold and reckless, acts on the most childish of impulses in an effort to keep everyone at arms length. It's justifiable though, her family, her friends and her ex have let her down. Even Clara fails to uphold her promise to protect her from violation.
Emily Browning is a powerful force in the film, finding the perfect balance of a young woman struggling to hold her wall up against the world, but giving us enough to glimpse a real person underneath the cracks through something as subtle as the softening of her eyes. She shows an extreme level of dedication to the role, not only adhering to the required nudity, but also the context of those scenes, it becomes very intense viewing. Don't expect titillation to be found anywhere here, the uncovered flesh is a tool of contrast. Despite the ethereal beauty Emily Browning commands on screen, there is nothing sexy about what you see. But in the end, I found her to still be a real person, I sympathized and indeed felt for her.
Sleeping Beauty is much like the blooming of a flower, all the petals open slowly in unison, not one at a time, it isn't until it's finished can we admire it in it's entirety. And there is a lot to admire here if you go in with an open mind, look past the stylized exterior and delve underneath.
9/10
Julia Leigh's directorial debut from her own screenplay follows the emotionally complex character Lucy (Emily Browning), a university student with a multitude of part-time jobs and a social life that can only be described as controversial. It's made clear early on that Lucy has no solid relationships, the only friend she's seen out with her seems more like a madam than a friend, her kinder flatmate is too weak to defend her from her male counter-part, her unseen mother is an abusive alcoholic chasing Lucy for money and her father is either long absent or passed away. There is only 'Birdman', a young man slowly dying from alcoholism cast away from Lucy's ex-boyfriends circle of friends. His company seems to be cathartic for Lucy, an alcoholic that is kind and not abusive like her mother.
When Lucy responds to an ad in the University paper for 'Silver Service Waitress' she is introduced to Clara (Rachael Blake), a 'madam' for want of a better word. Rachael Blake's performance is tonally perfect, her Clara is elegant and seemingly disenchanted with her work. When she gives Lucy details of each task she is too perform, it always comes with a warning, each step is explained with an obvious and painful personal knowledge of the job. This sort of work is new for Lucy, it's forces social interaction which she was adept at avoiding in all her other jobs. And it also forces her into a position of submission, not at all something she is used to in her usual role as the dominate sexual partner in her string of empty encounters with middle aged, middle-class businessmen.
Lucy's role in the Sleeping Chamber comes across as something akin to a hearthstone where wealthy old men gather to realize or recapture feelings long since lost or denied to them, intimacy, sexual dominance and physical strength are examples of themes her subdued body are exposed to, even in this secret world of control they still fail and it's Lucy that absorbs the cost.
Nearly every important scene and transaction in the film is hidden in subtext, Leigh makes the audience work to make the connections and draw conclusions by dropping breadcrumbs and leaving enough for us to see the whole story without having to resort to spoon fed exposition. It makes for an interesting contrast, characters that feel entirely real viewed through cold artistic lens. This approach does present a challenge not only to the filmmakers but the audience, Lucy is very much a curious protagonist. She's cold and reckless, acts on the most childish of impulses in an effort to keep everyone at arms length. It's justifiable though, her family, her friends and her ex have let her down. Even Clara fails to uphold her promise to protect her from violation.
Emily Browning is a powerful force in the film, finding the perfect balance of a young woman struggling to hold her wall up against the world, but giving us enough to glimpse a real person underneath the cracks through something as subtle as the softening of her eyes. She shows an extreme level of dedication to the role, not only adhering to the required nudity, but also the context of those scenes, it becomes very intense viewing. Don't expect titillation to be found anywhere here, the uncovered flesh is a tool of contrast. Despite the ethereal beauty Emily Browning commands on screen, there is nothing sexy about what you see. But in the end, I found her to still be a real person, I sympathized and indeed felt for her.
Sleeping Beauty is much like the blooming of a flower, all the petals open slowly in unison, not one at a time, it isn't until it's finished can we admire it in it's entirety. And there is a lot to admire here if you go in with an open mind, look past the stylized exterior and delve underneath.
9/10