-16 - Sleeping Beauty -2011- 〈DIRECT ⇒〉

Late in the film, an old client whispers into Lucy’s sleeping ear. She can’t hear him—she’s under. But we do. He tells her about his wife, his daughter, his loneliness. He wants nothing sexual. Just to lie next to someone warm and pretend. It’s the saddest thing I’ve seen in years. Because he’s confessing to a body that can’t reply. And she’s chosen to be that body.

Released in 2011 to fierce debate at Cannes (where it was booed and championed in equal measure), the film has aged into a cult classic. In the post-#MeToo era, feels less like an art-house provocation and more like a prophecy. -16 - Sleeping Beauty -2011-

This is where diverges from its source material. The original fairy tale’s curse is lifted by external love. Here, the curse is internal. Lucy’s curse is her own disassociation. She is not cursed by a witch; she is cursed by capitalism. Late in the film, an old client whispers