Review of Sleeping Beauty (2011) by Daniel A — 16 Feb 2012

For a film that's so erotically charged, Sleeping Beauty is surprisingly sexless. Rising starlet Emily Browning floats around in various states of undress, as do most of the cast, yet Julia Leigh's bizarre and very loose interpretation of the classic fairytale seems clinical and closed off to viewers.

None of it feels in any way real, instead reading more as a fantasy set in some beautiful yet emotionless and sordid parallel world. Ultimately the substance of the film is just too lacking to warrant the extensive arthouse liberties that it takes.