On the heels of the mesmeric Bluebeard (SFIFF 2009), French auteur Catherine Breillat again delves into the piquant fairy tales of Charles Perrault for this singular, sparkling film, a reverie and rumination over slumbering lives and awakening sexual and mortal consciousness. The director’s idiosyncratic, heady and erotic aesthetic fashions a world at once palpable and ethereal, itself a waking dream, with a ludic insouciance that delights in combining allusive, painterly detail with makeshift and anachronistic improvisations. As much a tonic to the intellect as the senses, The Sleeping Beauty will keep you up all night.


Written by Catherine Breillat. Photographed by Denis Lenoir. With Carla Besnaïnou, Julia Artamanov, Kérian Mayan, David Chausse. (82 min. Strand Releasing)
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