Marina Antunes [Film Festival 04.14.11] movie trailer news drama arthouse



For her new project, acclaimed Australian author Julia Leigh has moved away from writing novels to writing and directing a screen play. Sleeping Beauty may have some nuance that would classify it as a revisionist fairy tale but it’s far from anything I’ve seen, including Catherine Breillat’s disappointing The Sleeping Beauty which premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival.

Leigh’s tale stars Emily Browning as Lucy and is being toted as "A haunting erotic fairytale about a University student drawn into a mysterious hidden world of beauty and desire with prostitution, where her specialty is the 'Sleeping Beauty chamber.'"

The trailer certainly looks great and I’m curious to see how this story is going to play out. Leigh isn’t one to flinch away from the ugly and the film already has the stamp of approval from Jane Campion (who is presenting the film). I love these slightly twisted tales and I’m particularly curious to see how Leigh translates the poetry of her writing to the screen. What’s more, it will be interesting to see if Browning can actually pull this off; this year she has already made her mark in a film which sexualized her character though Sleeping Beauty’s female gaze is certain to add a new dimension to the conversation. Frankly, I never expected Browning to be at the centre of that discussion.

Leigh’s Sleeping Beauty will debut at 64th Cannes Film Festival.

Trailer, via First Showing, after the break.

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