Tag Archives | Cannes

Film Sleeping Beauty

Disappointed. i saw the film Sleeping Beauty last night. Controversial new Australian film by film novice, the novelist Julia Leigh that went all the way to Cannes. Great idea. Brave idea. A pretty Botticellian beauty is paid by a top escort agency to let lonely old men do things to her while she is drugged into a deep sleep. It got mixed reviews. People said it was largely because of the subject matter which is too confronting for many. It hints of paedophelia and necrophilia, and rape.

Being an eroticist I thought I’d love it but surprisingly I too was disappointed. I didn’t find it erotic. In the hands of a French or European director I suspect it would have been more revealing of the characters involved. In the end it is always the psychological development of the players that makes the eroticism actually “erotic”. I didn’t care about the characters therefore I never engaged as opposed to the tantalisingly provocative classics like Story of O; The Night Porter; Romance; or Last Tango- all compelling by the depth of the contradictions and complexities of the human interactions. Andrew L Urban in the SMH had much the same thoughts.

What’s your favourite film? What films or videos have disappointed you recently?

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