Review of Sleeping Beauty (2011) by Matthew H — 04 Aug 2011

*This is not a modern-day live action remake of the Disney fairy tale. In fact, it is far from it.*.

The story is basically about a college student (Emily Browning) who needs money. She then answers an ad in the papers and works as a(n) (erotic) waitress at a high class men's club. She gets a promotion and starts working as a prostitute for a higher pay than her already very high pay. The thing is that prostitutes are put to sleep before subjecting themselves to their clients. Hence, the title Sleeping Beauty.

I see where Julia Leigh was going with this. She's a critically acclaimed writer, so I expected the same result with her film; unfortunately, it didn't happen, or hasn't happened yet.

I believe what the director was going for a more arty approach, where the narrative is carried by the character development, shots and actions rather than dialogue as done in most mainstream Hollywood films. It did seem promising but most of the time was rather dull and possibly even pointless. Plus, I felt that the 'fade-to-black' transition technique was overused - it distorted the film and didn't give it the flow it needed; much like a road with speed bumps. I also felt that the dialogue at times was too straight forward to the point where it sounded really weird - almost something that you'd expect to see in a low budget porno.

However, despite all the negative remarks I have made I must say that Emily Browning did a really good job in the acting department and I bet Leigh made sure of that. Browning was quite often fully nude in the film and sometimes even had to go through really weird actions. She controlled her acting and that just showed how well of an actress she truly is. It was quite the shock seeing her go from innocent Violet Baudelaire in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events to sexually charged Lucy here in Sleeping Beauty.

I'm writing a rather long, harsh and "in depth" review on this because I believe Julia Leigh has magnificent potential as a film director. I didn't expect a masterpiece from her debut but I expected more, and I didn't get it. What I saw didn't please me at all. I think that this is a pretty horrible film with great acting from Emily Browning to be honest. Some would praise this film, I wouldn't. I really hope Julia Leigh does better on her second film.