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Product Description
You will go to sleep: you will wake up. It will be as if those hours never existed. Quietly reckless, Lucy (Emily Browning Suckerpunch) 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 a drugged, comatose, Lucy¹s absolute submission. This unsettling task starts to bleed into Lucy's daily life as she develops an increasing need to know what happens to her when she is asleep. Haunting and provocative, Julia Leigh's powerful vision is one of the most startling debut features of recent years.
Reviews
Emily Browning gives a fierce and powerful performance, which should put her in the running for the festival's best actress prize GUARDIAN
"Haunting and dreamlike, a joy to watch"- ELLE
Audacious and suggestive **** - TIME OUT
Dark and erotic VOGUE
"Haunting... Stunning, brave, thoughtful and highly accomplished... it lingers like a vivid dream ****" TOTAL FILM
"Brave and beautiful...mesmerising and hypnotic, the sensual camerawork lingers on the beauty of everything it touches ****" EMPIRE
Intelligent, provocative cinema **** - THE BIG ISSUE
Reviews
Emily Browning gives a fierce and powerful performance, which should put her in the running for the festival's best actress prize GUARDIAN
"Haunting and dreamlike, a joy to watch"- ELLE
Audacious and suggestive **** - TIME OUT
Dark and erotic VOGUE
"Haunting... Stunning, brave, thoughtful and highly accomplished... it lingers like a vivid dream ****" TOTAL FILM
"Brave and beautiful...mesmerising and hypnotic, the sensual camerawork lingers on the beauty of everything it touches ****" EMPIRE
Intelligent, provocative cinema **** - THE BIG ISSUE
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
52 of 61 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Sleeping Beauty is Vegemite - an Australian film which will you will either love or hate.
Emily Browning stars as Lucy, aka Sara, a student of loose morals who juggles various jobs and takes on a role doing silver service whilst wearing lingerie. She also juggles various men. Lucy, aka Sara, is told that she will be working with other women, some of whom will have more responsibilities. In time, Lucy, aka Sara, also takes on new responsibilities - specifically taking a narcotic dose and sleeping naked for the pleasure of old men. It's beautifully shot, with near still camera angles, long periods of silence and very creepy undertones. Then by day, Lucy, aka Sara, goes back to university and sits in lectures, awaiting phone calls to spring her into action.
Meanwhile, Lucy does her best to maintain normal relations with her housemates and her various men. Unsuccessfully.
Emily Browning puts in a stellar performance, not least as she plays unconscious whilst being carried about the room and half dropped off a bed. She manages to convince in a very difficult role, blending innocence with moral depravity without ever seeming conflicted.
The premise sounds erotic but, with the exception of one early scene featuring coin tossing, the performance is absolutely deadpan and devoid of all emotion. There is nudity, but it is sterile. Everything feels suppressed. The ending, when it comes, is ambiguous and deflating.
For my money, Sleeping Beauty is a future classic - unashamedly art-house and very heavily stylized. And, as some Australian newspapers have noted, it is an Australian film which doesn't play on its provenance. For much of the film, the action might as well be in a French chateau - referenced by a bed with a bolster rather than pillows. The accents are Australian but the location could be anywhere.
On the other hand, I should say that my wife thought the film was pretentious, boring and pointless.
Looking at other review websites, it seems that opinion is split pretty evenly. But few people seem to think the film is average - it's a love it or hate it divide.
Emily Browning stars as Lucy, aka Sara, a student of loose morals who juggles various jobs and takes on a role doing silver service whilst wearing lingerie. She also juggles various men. Lucy, aka Sara, is told that she will be working with other women, some of whom will have more responsibilities. In time, Lucy, aka Sara, also takes on new responsibilities - specifically taking a narcotic dose and sleeping naked for the pleasure of old men. It's beautifully shot, with near still camera angles, long periods of silence and very creepy undertones. Then by day, Lucy, aka Sara, goes back to university and sits in lectures, awaiting phone calls to spring her into action.
Meanwhile, Lucy does her best to maintain normal relations with her housemates and her various men. Unsuccessfully.
Emily Browning puts in a stellar performance, not least as she plays unconscious whilst being carried about the room and half dropped off a bed. She manages to convince in a very difficult role, blending innocence with moral depravity without ever seeming conflicted.
The premise sounds erotic but, with the exception of one early scene featuring coin tossing, the performance is absolutely deadpan and devoid of all emotion. There is nudity, but it is sterile. Everything feels suppressed. The ending, when it comes, is ambiguous and deflating.
For my money, Sleeping Beauty is a future classic - unashamedly art-house and very heavily stylized. And, as some Australian newspapers have noted, it is an Australian film which doesn't play on its provenance. For much of the film, the action might as well be in a French chateau - referenced by a bed with a bolster rather than pillows. The accents are Australian but the location could be anywhere.
On the other hand, I should say that my wife thought the film was pretentious, boring and pointless.
Looking at other review websites, it seems that opinion is split pretty evenly. But few people seem to think the film is average - it's a love it or hate it divide.
23 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Having read great reviews for this movie and watched the trailer, I was looking forward to watching this movie very much so.
However, not only was it ridiculously pretentious (normally a pretentious movie doesn't annoy me so much, but this was really pushing it), and it wasn't that I didn't understand the plot or the movie, there was no substance to it whatsoever. So it didn't even earn the right to be truly pretentious. It tries to be shocking with its themes of sexuality, with lines such as 'your vagina will be treated like a temple', and scenes such as those where Lucy is made to match her lipstick colour to her labia. However, they are unconvincing and almost comical in their eagerness to shock, but they are placed without either reason or relevance. I am a fan of films such as 'Belle de Jour', so it is not at all the case that I find such films uncomfortable or uncouth, Sleeping Beauty's sexual themes were just really boring.
The acting was terrible. I have watched several of the actors in other movies, where they really have been good, and so it was odd that they should fail for this one. Although I suppose that for a film with no character substance, depth or development, it can be quite hard to be convincing.
The movie goes into pointless subplots, such as Lucy's friendship with Birdie. Nothing is explained or developed in them, they just waste time and are equally dull.
I think the worst part of the film though was the fact that it genuinely had such potential. The main ideas behind it, the declining male sexual ego, the young, beautiful student unable to discover what happens to herself... it could have been a masterpiece. However, they have been so badly put together, the result is a sloppy mess, I don't understand why the director is so eager to slap her name all over it.
However, not only was it ridiculously pretentious (normally a pretentious movie doesn't annoy me so much, but this was really pushing it), and it wasn't that I didn't understand the plot or the movie, there was no substance to it whatsoever. So it didn't even earn the right to be truly pretentious. It tries to be shocking with its themes of sexuality, with lines such as 'your vagina will be treated like a temple', and scenes such as those where Lucy is made to match her lipstick colour to her labia. However, they are unconvincing and almost comical in their eagerness to shock, but they are placed without either reason or relevance. I am a fan of films such as 'Belle de Jour', so it is not at all the case that I find such films uncomfortable or uncouth, Sleeping Beauty's sexual themes were just really boring.
The acting was terrible. I have watched several of the actors in other movies, where they really have been good, and so it was odd that they should fail for this one. Although I suppose that for a film with no character substance, depth or development, it can be quite hard to be convincing.
The movie goes into pointless subplots, such as Lucy's friendship with Birdie. Nothing is explained or developed in them, they just waste time and are equally dull.
I think the worst part of the film though was the fact that it genuinely had such potential. The main ideas behind it, the declining male sexual ego, the young, beautiful student unable to discover what happens to herself... it could have been a masterpiece. However, they have been so badly put together, the result is a sloppy mess, I don't understand why the director is so eager to slap her name all over it.
Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase
This blu-ray is the only Region Free disc we in the States can play of Sleeping Beauty (with Emily Browning. Not the animated feature). So if you must have this title and want it on Blu-ray while needing it to be able to play on your Region A player, this is the one. Unfortunately, English subtitles arent an option, which sucks because the dialog is pretty low, (and it should be, it's that style movie). But, I'd like to be able to read along with certain dialog driven films.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Absolutely stunning
In this day and age you need to appreciate a beautiful movie and not criticise it because you do not understand it. Read more
Published 10 days ago by Ryan
One of those love it or hate it movies
Sleeping Beauty is a fanciful `indie' movie about a girl, Sara, who has numerous mundane jobs as she attends an Australian university, but decides to take on some *ahem* nightwork... Read more
Published 22 days ago by Albatross
I fell asleep watching it...
The trailer looked intriguing and sexy, so did the promotional photos. But the film was utterly tedious. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Kitten
Zzzzzzz...wha? Oh...is it over?
All the while I was watching this film - and most emphatically upon its conclusion - a quote from that deep and philosophical 80's arthouse movie "Planes, Trains and Automobiles",... Read more
Published 1 month ago by StoicCynic
Interesting.
This film is about Lucy's almost psychopathic lack of empathy. She is unsentimental about her body and emotionally unattached in her frequent sexual encounters; and as such any... Read more
Published 1 month ago by E.H.
A beauty you won't fall asleep to...
A lot of fantastic films have been coming out of Australia recently (Snowtown, Animal Kingdom etc.) and this is yet another. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Friendly Dictator
No english subs on Blu-ray - It's a shame
Revolver Entertainment have not provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.
It's a shame nowdays. Read more
It's a shame nowdays. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Stimm
Awful
Should have read the reviews before I watched this film. It is dreadful. Monologues spoken directly to camera were pretentious and out of place. Story line was bitty. Read more
Published 2 months ago by DarloReviewer
It's Coma Time
Jaw-droppingly terrible Australian film (there's a surprise) about an emotionally confused girl who takes a sinister job as some kind of fetish plaything for ageing men. Read more
Published 2 months ago by BoatDrinks
Post Mod 'Story of O' ?
This was an 'enigmatic' flik to be sure - and, as evidenced by the wide variety of 'reviews' posted on Amazon, elicits diverse responses from different viewers. Read more
Published 2 months ago by DVD-OCD
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