Review of Sleeping Beauty (2011) by Tylor B — 14 Jun 2012

After reading through the reviews of this film it strikes me that the young female perspective is not always well received, and is actually quite seldom fully understood. What little the character Lucy does say, beyond what is required for her various jobs, is generally discouraged by the other characters.

What she thinks is irrelevant to the various employments that are at the center of the story. It's her physical body that she has to trade on in a superficial culture not greatly interested in hearing what she has to say (if some reviews of this film may be cited as evidence of this).

But, who she is does come through very poignantly when she is shown 'being herself'. She really likes the woman she works with/for at the bar, she is annoyed when her music is turned down as she polishes tables, and her kind but knowing response to the electronic sales clerk is sharp in the good way.

She's also pretty funny at the end of her first interview with the madame, and when she chooses an absurd shade to match her labia. The image of her walking while drugged, but with a plan to enlighten herself and absolute mental clarity, basically sums up the strength facing adversity we are meant to see in her.

More than this, though, she wants to understand. She is a melancholic truth seeker, shown enjoying the prospect of her ironic discovery as she unboxes a spy camera at the start of class. The lecturer asks why one who had mastered a game would take two hours to make a move that would lose the game, but the answer is already there: to see what happens.

It's clear that she's a good person: she is happy to be around her genuinely courteous friend, ensures that he eats something, and loves him while witnessing the tragedy of this impossible love.

If anyone is interested in employing a film reviewer who can intuit the details, whether favorable or not, you can reach me from my 'location'.