Death-haunted, quietly reckless, Lucy is a young university student who takes a job as a Sleeping Beauty. In the Sleeping Beauty Chamber old men seek an erotic experience that requires Lucy's absolute submission.This unsettling task starts to bleed into Lucy's daily life and she develops an increasing need to know what happens to her when she is asleep.
Reviews
Empire Magazine
Anna Smith
“Narratively, this isn’t perfect: there’s a confusing subplot and some will find its cryptic style pretentious. But when it’s in its stride, it’s mesmerising. Those prepared to submit to Sleeping Beauty’s hypnotic flow will readily forgive its flaws.”
17/10/2011
Read Full Review
The New Statesman
Ryan Gilbey
“Leigh presents one disorienting spectacle after another and challenges the viewer to find within it meaning or reassurance. She sustains the mood of enigmatic discomfort far longer than is customary in narrative film.”
14/10/2011
Read Full Review
Screen
Fionnuala Halligan
“Julia Leigh is navigating some choppy waters between the controlled metaphors of her page and the need to let some life breathe in her cinema; while she may be asleep, her Beauty still needs some air. However, young actress Browning has gone the distance for her director and together, they have delivered something here that sometimes catches your breath”
12/05/2011
Read Full Review
Time Out
David Jenkins
“Browning ... proves that she’s a fearless and distinctive young actress whose rigorously passive performance imbues her character with immense depth and mystery. She gives her body over to Leigh with the same reckless abandon ”
13/10/2011
Read Full Review
The Independent on Sunday
Jonathan Romney
“[A]n intriguing piece, tantalising rather than a tease; it should keep you awake, at least. ”
16/10/2011
Read Full Review
The Times
Kate Muir
“The dialogue is sparse and pretentious, and the sight of creepy old literary men pawing Browning’s baby-white flesh is repulsive. ”
14/10/2011
Read Full Review
The Sunday Times
Cosmo Landesman
“Sleeping Beauty is one of those art-house films that has a puritanical dislike for entertainment or simple cinematic pleasures. It refuses to allow any empathy or emotional involvement with its protagonist. It’s cold and infuriatingly opaque, with scenes that leave you numb with tedium. ”
16/10/2011
Read Full Review
Sight & Sound
Sophie Mayer
“Leigh’s novels are celebrated for their spare and intimate exploration of characters who appear as blank as Lucy but are internally roiling with obsession and loss ... Leigh isn’t able to muster a cinematic equivalent of a first-person narration that would convey Lucy’s interiority to the viewer, not least because Lucy is isolated, inarticulate, arch and frequently asleep.”
17/10/2011
Read Full Review
The Evening Standard
Derek Malcolm
“It's beautifully made, like a strange European art movie, with a spare screenplay, rigorously avoiding anything but a stately eroticism. Browning is notable in what can only be described as an extremely challenging part. ”
14/10/2011
Read Full Review
The Financial Times
Antonia Quirke
“The film – although so very stylishly – promises a moment of truth that never quite arrives. ”
13/10/2011
Read Full Review
The Guardian
Peter Bradshaw
“[A] very bizarre drama about erotic ritual and male obsession: ridiculous in some ways, and naïve about bought sex, but very watchable and eerie. ”
13/10/2011
Read Full Review
The Daily Telegraph
Robbie Collin
“Sleeping Beauty was warmly received in Cannes where it was backed by Jane Campion, but back in autumnal Britain, it’s clear this emperor has no clothes, along with much of the cast. ”
13/10/2011
Read Full Review
The Daily Mail
Chris Tookey
“The film, ‘presented’ by the feminist director Jane Campion, seems to have nothing on its mind except revealing the ghastliness of men. Don’t hold the front page.”
14/10/2011
Read Full Review