Review of Sleeping Beauty (2011) by Walter M — 18 Dec 2011

In "Sleeping Beauty," Lucy(Emily Browning) is a university student who is sleepwalking through life. Even with about 37 part-time jobs, she cannot to pay the rent on her apartment, probably due to her hectic night life. So she calls about a help wanted ad in the student newspaper where she answers some very personal questions over the telephone. The interview is even more thorough as she is fully inspected, as Clara(Rachael Blake) tells her that it will be a freelancing job serving men dinner in her lingerie. And there will be no vaginal penetration. Good to know.

With the fine skill it is made, "Sleeping Beauty" is better than mere exploitation, but as provocation it is fairly empty, considering that after the abrupt ending, I am still not sure what the point was.(Please tell me it had nothing to do with the story the old man was telling because I was zoning out right about then.) And while Emily Browning gives a physically courageous performance, it was alas not an emotionally brave one, making it very hard to get a handle on her character. Some of that might be down to the writing as all we know about Lucy is that she is on her own and estranged from her mother(whether she is actually a violent alcoholic is up for debate) with scattered hints about her past.(She also pretty much wears the same clothing all the time.) While seeking to live her own life, she also happens to find herself in more than her share of degrading work situations, with money not of interest at first in her new job.