Review of Sleeping Beauty (2011) by Mike S — 29 Feb 2012

Since its premiere at Cannes, tongues have been wagging about Sleeping Beauty. Tongues wag no more - writer/director Julia Leigh's film is a beautiful looking yet motiveless disappointment. Emily Browning is Lucy, a woman with many odd jobs; one as a "silver service server", where she dons lingerie at exclusive dinner parties. This however leads her to a situation where she is drugged and lying naked in a bed while wealthy clients may pose her body any way they wish, with the exception of penetration being forbidden.

There is initially titillation and intrigue, but the plot spirals into utter nonsense. Lucy's first silver service job is an example, where her superior sternly instructs her to match her lipstick to her labia. Her response - "You're kidding, right?" - took the words right out of my mouth.

Lucy's character is bland, beautiful and zombie-like. Perhaps that is part of Leigh's design of a modern "Sleeping Beauty", who knows, but Browning certainly looks the part - when she is nude her porcelain skin is flawlessly captured on screen. The visuals of the bedroom scenes are essentially the one impressive component. They are quite evocative; Lucy's skin and hair against the headboard and the sheen of the bedding gives a heightened sense of eroticism. This is complemented by impressive camera work - the exploitation of Lucy's body by these men is done all in one fluid take. Sleeping Beauty is very David Lynchesque, it inevitably and unfortunately leads to a dead end and an anti-climactic ending.