Sleeping Beauty

2011

Sleeping Beauty

Critics Consensus

Sleeping Beauty's provocative premise and luminous art design is hampered by a clinical, remote presentation, delivering boredom and shock in equal measure.

48%

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: 97

32%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 66,059
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Movie Info

Lucy (Emily Browning) is a young university student possessed by a kind of radical passivity. She lets a flip of a coin decide the outcome of a random sexual encounter and she displays an uncomplaining patience when facing the repetitions of her various menial jobs that fund her studies. One day she answers an ad in the student newspaper and interviews for a job to be a lingerie waitress. But she is secretly being initiated into a world of strange new work; one where she will have to give into absolute submission to her clients by being sedated; becoming a Sleeping Beauty. Eventually this unnerving experience begins to bleed into her daily life and she finally develops the will to break the spell by discovering what happens to her while she sleeps. -- (C) Sundance Selects

Cast

Emily Browning
as Lucy
Rachael Blake
as Clara
Ewen Leslie
as Birdmann
Peter Carroll
as Man 1
Chris Haywood
as Man 2
Hugh Keays-Byrne
as Man 3

News & Interviews for Sleeping Beauty

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Critic Reviews for Sleeping Beauty

All Critics (97) | Top Critics (31) | Fresh (47) | Rotten (50)

View All Critic Reviews (97)

Audience Reviews for Sleeping Beauty

  • Jun 20, 2014
    An empty and pretentious film that fails by not providing any depth into its character, thus leaving her actions and motivations as a complete mystery from beginning to end and making this a cold and detached experience even as a result of the large amount of loose shots.
    Carlos M Super Reviewer
  • Dec 01, 2013
    This film accomplishes nothing other than unnecessarily disturbing the viewer. If there were any larger messages the film carries, they are lost in its slow--albeit beautifully filmed--sequences that feature cold, wooden acting. The film lost me halfway despite a somewhat compelling plot, and then, not only did it bore, but became a rather disgusting, vile, and ultimately irritating movie. It deserves praise for its cinematography and film editing, which both evoke Sofia Coppola, however it is largely a pointless, raunchy bore. Style can only get you so far.
    Matthew Samuel M Super Reviewer
  • Jun 24, 2013
    The film milks its fascinating premise to the bone but the lack of plot, interesting characters and the ambigious ending (arthouse anyone?) make this quite a tedious and challenging watch. A good performance by Browning throughout. Far from being a masterpiece, this is a bold entry in the arthouse scene but far from a classic.
    Henrik S Super Reviewer
  • Feb 20, 2013
    Colossally boring, I eventually chose to not waste my time trying to get through to the end for absolutely nothing in return. Adhering to the title, every actor appears to have taken a handful of Ambien before the cameras rolled. Filled with agonizingly long takes and interminable monologues, which are actually preferable to the perverted scenes of old wrinkly men caressing and licking the bare-assed Emily Browning. She's probably got some disturbing father figure/grandaddy issues by agreeing to take this part. Surely one of the worst mistakes I will see this year.
    Doctor S Super Reviewer
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