Sleeping Beauty (MA). Director: Julia Leigh. Starring: Emily Browning, Rachael Blake, Peter Carroll, Chris Haywood, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Ewen Leslie. 101 minutes
In May a German study revealed that one in three students in Berlin would consider sex work as a means of paying for their education. We've seen similar phenomena in Australia where, in 2005, Dr Sarah Lantz, a researcher with a background in public health and mental health, noted that many struggling students were 'utilising the sex industry to support themselves, their children and their own post-secondary studies'. She blamed the rise of economic rationalism principles in tertiary institutions for putting the squeeze on students.
This provides interesting real-world context for the beguiling but perplexing new Australian film Sleeping Beauty. Protagonist Lucy (Browning) is a university student who finds herself drawn into working a bizarre niche within the sex industry. The film's title hints at the frighteningly submissive nature of the work she endures.
However Lucy's motivation for pursuing this well paid but decidedly demeaning work is not as clear-cut as 'she needs the money'. References are made to student loans, and we see her verbally tussle with housemates over rent. But Lucy, as coolly portrayed by Browning, is marked by an enigmatic aloofness, rather than desperation.
Prior to entering the sex industry, she has multiple sources of income, working, for example, as a waitress, and as a guinea pig for medical experiments. These each in their own way foreshadow her later sordid work choices: the menial and personable dimensions of waitressing reflect the 'hospitality' dimension of prostitution; the medical experiments, which involve sliding a sterile tube down her gullet while she battles her gag reflex, have an overtly sexual connotation (the administrator of the experiment even thanks her shyly for her services).
Taken alongside a fatalistic personal approach to sexuality, Lucy's frank pursuit of such roles evoke a sense that she is drawn, rather than simply accustomed, to being used, particularly if there is money to be made. The roots of this emotional masochism are not explored. But the progression to sex work seems predestined.
In fact her progression to the role of 'sleeping beauty' seems to be motivated by a desire for extravagance rather than a need to make ends meet. She is advised by matronly manager Clara (Blake) to work hard for a short time and use the money she earns wisely. Contrary to such pragmatism, Lucy literally puts a flame to