Sleeping Beauty (2011 film)
| Sleeping Beauty | |
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Theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Julia Leigh |
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| Screenplay by | Julia Leigh |
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| Music by | Ben Frost |
| Cinematography | Geoffrey Simpson |
| Edited by | Nick Meyers |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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102 minutes |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3 million |
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Sleeping Beauty is a 2011 Australian erotic drama film that was written and directed by Julia Leigh. It is her debut as a director. The film stars Emily Browning as a young university student who begins doing erotic freelance work in which she is required to sleep in bed alongside paying customers. The film is based on influences that include her own dream experiences, and the novels The House of the Sleeping Beauties and Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Nobel laureates Yasunari Kawabata and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, respectively.
The film premiered in May at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival as the first Competition entry to be screened. It was the first Australian film In Competition at Cannes since Moulin Rouge! (2001). Sleeping Beauty was released in Australia on 23 June 2011. It premiered in US cinemas on 2 December 2011 on limited release. Overall critical reception of the film has been mixed, rising to some approval through June 2016, after circulation of the film on the festival circuit; audience reception, on the other hand, has been weak (less than a third of a sample of tens of thousands approving).
Lucy (Emily Browning) is a stoic, unemotional university student who has few friends and survives by working various short-term odd jobs. Her roommates dislike her, and she spends her time visiting Birdmann (Ewen Leslie), a male friend who is very attracted to her. While she does not return his sexual interest, Lucy enjoys Birdmann's company, and in his presence is the only time she is shown smiling or laughing. An old joke between the two is that Birdmann frequently asked Lucy to marry him; Lucy always says no.
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