Catherine Breillat’s THE SLEEPING BEAUTY Trailer

From one of the most provocative French directors of the last three decades, watch the trailer for Catherine Breillat’s THE SLEEPING BEAUTY.

SYNOPSIS

The films of French director Catherine Breillat (Fat Girl, Romance, Sex Is Comedy, Anatomy of Hell) are not known for ending with a “. . .happy ever after.” There is always a twist. Although the heroine may find happiness, there is always a price.

The twists are plentiful in Ms. Breillat’s current feature The Sleeping Beauty. In a castle in a far away land in a bygone age, a little girl named Anastasia is born. Carabosse, an older fairy, waits impatiently for three younger fairies to arrive so that they can bestow a blessing on the child. When they finally arrive all is lost. Carabosse has placed a curse on the child: at the age of sixteen Anastasia will pierce her hand and die. Feeling somewhat guilty that their tardiness has brought about an early demise for the child, the three younger fairies alter the curse so that instead of dying Anastasia will sleep for one hundred years. And during that century long slumber she will have the ability to wander the world in dreams.

This is no mere fairytale. It is not surprising that Ms. Breillat continues to examine the female mythologies in The Sleeping Beauty: the innocence of beauty and youth versus the perceived evils of “the spinster”; the reinterpretation of the classic “girl in peril” scenario; and the idea that true love is all a woman needs for a “happily ever after.”

Noah Cowan says, speaking of Ms. Breillat at the Toronto Film Festival, “Breillat is simply one of the most intriguing and surprising filmmakers working today and The Sleeping Beauty is a fascinating testament to her abilities.”

France. Running time: 82 minutes. Not Rated. In French with English subtitles. A Strand Releasing film.

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY, the inimitable Catherine Breillat’s beguiling deconstruction of a classic fairy tale, opens for an exclusive engagement at Laemmle’s Sunset 5 Friday, July 29