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Sleeping Beauty (2011)
- Review Date: December 2, 2011
- NR
- Genre: Drama
- 2011
Common Sense Media says
Creepy erotic drama about sedated girls has little meaning.
Parents say
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this creepy erotic drama is heavy on nudity but short on meaning. A college student becomes involved in an unusual type of escort service: She's paid to take a drug that puts her to sleep for hours while wealthy old men fondle her nude body (though they're prohibited from actually having sex with her). Besides the sleeping potion, there's also recreational drug use and drinking, plus a fair bit of swearing (including "f--k," "c--k," and more). The film is charged throughout with sexuality -- including full-frontal nude scenes featuring both men and women -- but no actual on-screen simulated sex.
What's the story?
Lucy (Emily Browning) is a cash-strapped college student who takes a job in which she serves meals at private dinner parties while dressed in lingerie. She soon becomes a quasi-prostitute, with a twist: She takes a strong drug that puts her to sleep for hours while wealthy old men are allowed to fondle her nude body (they're prohibited from actually having sex). Clara (Rachael Blake), the madam who arranges Lucy's encounters and administers the sleeping potion, tells her that "no penetration" is the most important rule. Soon Lucy begins to wonder what's really happening to her while she's asleep.
Is it any good?
Screenwriter and first-time director Julia Leigh is clearly going for an art-house experience in SLEEPING BEAUTY. Lucy seems to be sleepwalking through her life, taking a series of dead-end jobs (an office drone, a waitress, a volunteer for campus medical experiments) but not actually living. Searching for sensation, she's game for casual drug use and no-strings-attached sex, but otherwise it's hard to tell anything about this blank slate of a character.
The film is trying to make a statement about choosing to live life vs. choosing to check out and just go through the motions. Problem is, the message is pretty obvious, while the film is tedious and dull. It's got plenty of nudity and disturbing sex scenes (Lucy lies still, inert, while others fondle her). And by making Lucy so passive, both awake and asleep, there's nothing that makes her interesting to viewers. Will she discover the joy in life? Will she actually become involved in a real relationship? We don't know, and, because of the lack of storytelling, we don't much care.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about how Sleeping Beauty portrays sex and sexuality. Is it treated as a product/commodity? What are the dangers of that perspective? Parents, talk to your teens about your own values regarding sex and relationships.
By focusing on characters who literally sleep through significant encounters, what is this movie trying to say about life?
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Kid, 11 years old
December 21, 2011
AGE
My mom said it was...
My mom went to see this movie and I thought this movie was for kids like me, but it looked boring. when she came back from the movie theater, she said that the movie was a total waste of money. it had bad words, and during the movie she fell asleep.
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Kid, 12 years old
January 4, 2012
AGE
Don't bother.
I know someone who's watched it and said it was rubbish. Too much nudity and it's gross the way old men pay to look at nude women and touch them. The drugs thing is also a bad message. I do wonder what some people think of Emily Browning. She's a pretty actress but she seems to go for movies like this.
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AGE
Horrible
It's a bad movie and has absolutely no plot...
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AGE
The page review does not do the film justice.
I think this review in particular has missed the point of the film entirely. It isn't just pure titillation and the one-central plot point of Lucy becoming a Sleeping Beauty.
While the themes are sexually based, the message is more focused on the objectification of women and how Lucy is so completely unencumbered by her own encounters outside of the job. If you look at it from her point of view, she lives a lifestyle already detrimental to her well-being, and she has no understanding of what goes on when she falls asleep, all she knows is that she gets paid.
This isn't even completely about the men in the film. While there are perverted pigs like the second gentleman we see with Lucy in her sleeping state, we see softer men, like the first who has a soliloquy based on "The thirtieth year". His performance alone puts Lucy's job into question for the viewer. Some men are doing this for their own personal, deeper reasons.
However, the themes do extend to dark areas such as Lucy's indifference to her sexual partner, having her decision made for her by the flip of a coin, and her debilitating drug use.
It's all about context. In any other film, yes, the atmosphere and mood conveyed through the themes would mean condemnation and brandings of pornography or titillation, however there is just, something, about this film, and the obvious depth yet subtle lack of personality to Lucy's character which creates a juxtaposition. The viewer never knows what Lucy is thinking, and her motives remain unclear for the length of the film. However, 2 stars is simply wrong for this movie. If you think it's boring, go and watch an action film.
This is art, clear and unrestricted, and to brand or even review it as anything else is ignorant.
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AGE
useless for all
whole movie is the waste of time , ,
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AGE
Amazing film.
Saw this last week.Its a very well made film however the sex scenes were unfavorable and unnessecary.Maybe the lot of you would be better suited to check out American Reunion.
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AGE
The idiocy of this community continues
You know, most of you "kids" reviewing this film and telling other kids not to watch it is very hypocritical of you, because you're obvoiusly fine after watching it. Furthermore you are just regurgitating what common sense media has said in there "review", so you're offering no new insites into it and you haven't even talked about the film, because you think that just stating what the film contains is "reviewing". No it f*cking isn't!!! I've seen this film, there are no sex scenes in it, like you idiots have said, there's just nudity; some is natrual, some is sexualised - you morons need to look at the context of the nudity instead of just saying "ahhh, nudity = sex, therefore it is bad and unneeded". To the 12 year old who is bashing Emily Browning for taking up this role, a big f*ck you is headed your way and who are you to judge her for what roles she actceps? Actors want diversity in their carrers, so they go for roles that will challange them, that is different from their usual roles and I admire her taking up this role as it is different from what she usually plays. And Skullboy, you are obviously far to intellegent to be on this website for brainwashed, overprotective parents who have a deformed view on how cinema works; may I recomend you go and write reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, you know, a website for people who admire and review films and DON'T mindlessly rant about content? And when we do rant it's usually about how stupid the film is, be it a plot hole or stupid characters ect.. So yes, you should go there and leave these morons behind.
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| Studio: | IFC Entertainment |
| Director: | Julia Leigh |
| Cast: | Emily Browning, Ewen Leslie, Rachael Blake |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Run time: | 101 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | December 2, 2011 |
| DVD release date: | April 10, 2012 |
| MPAA rating: | NR |
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