Fantasia 2020 Review: Sleep (Schlaf), A Beautiful Nightmare
The outlook is never good if you find yourself at a remote, expansive hotel during off season. That sentiment is as true as it ever was in this twisty-turny German horror.
Mona (Swantje Kohlhof) is the daughter-cum-unofficial-carer for her emotional mother, Marlene (Sandra Hüller), who is plagued by recurring nightmares that feature a strange hotel in the German countryside. Marlene seeks out the hotel to find the root of her nightmares, and hopefully stop them altogether. But, once at the hotel, an incident renders her catatonic, leaving Mona to follow in her mother’s footsteps, unwittingly starting the unravelling of her mother’s nightmares and her past.
The film starts in the middle of a scene, during a game of Jenga between mother and daughter, and doesn’t feel like a start at all. It’s like you’ve just caught up to two people walking ahead of you and joined them mid conversation. So much so, I went back to the beginning to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. Their conversation includes titbits of information that make you feel like you should know what they’re talking about, but of course, you don’t. The disorienting opener is a good introduction to this film because whatever you might think is coming next, scene to scene, I guarantee you’re wrong.
When Mona arrives at the hotel, she is gradually introduced to a cast of odd characters who work at the hotel or in the small town down the road. Mona, initially, is the straight man to the other characters’ strangeness. She is measured and stoic, even when she visits her mother, who is unable to move or speak at all, at the nearby hospital - even when she starts seeing things.
The story plays like a drama, and scenes of horror are so calmly slipped in that it takes a moment to register that they are, in fact, out of the ordinary. However, as Mona dives deeper into the mysteries of her mother, the hotel and her own nightmares, the subtle is replaced with the downright surreal.
As the title suggests, sleep plays a large part in this film, or, more accurately, the moment of sleep just before waking, where dreams overspill momentarily into the real world. The idea is that there is power in this pocket of time. Curses can be laid there, truths can be revealed, and wrongs can be righted.
It is evident throughout Sleep that Michael Venus has many influences, but it wouldn’t be unfair to say it is mainly Kubrick-esque. Aside from the obvious comparisons to The Shining (1980), it is the specificity of detail and meticulous staging of scenes that most reminds me of Kubrick’s style. The sets, props, and characters are placed ‘just so’ by Venus. Everything is deliberate. The script is the same; Venus knows exactly when characters should say less, and the rare moments when they should say more. He manages to pack so much into this film (even wild boars and Nazis somehow), without it feeling overloaded. As a debut feature, it is quite the achievement.
One of the film’s biggest strengths is its fantastic cast. They deliver their sometimes-absurd lines so naturally that you don’t question them for a moment. Kohlhof is an impressive lead and her scenes opposite August Schmölzer, who plays Otto, the hotel owner, are particularly compelling. This is in no small part due to the absolute force of nature that Schmölzer is as a performer. He is so magnetic on screen that it is hard not to focus on him, even when he is in the background, or simply completing some mundane, menial task.
Sleep is a film full of mysteries, surprises, and “oh my god” moments (I actually said “oh my god” quietly to myself several times while watching), right to the end, where Venus has even snuck in an extra scene after the initial credits sequence - so stick around. Beautifully shot and expertly made, Sleep is a fun ride, especially for horror film enthusiasts, and the moral of the story is, ultimately, there is no escaping your dark past or your deadly destiny.
Sleep was reviewed as part of our coverage of Fantasia 2020.
Isaura Barbé-Brown is a Hackney born and based actress. She studied at AADA in New York and BADA in Oxford. She has done talks at the BFI for their Squad Goals event and with the Bechdel Test Fest on race in romantic films. She has also been on panels for BFI Future Film, The Watersprite Film Festival and The Norwich Film Festival. Isaura’s acting work covers theatre, film, tv and voiceover. She has also written short film scripts and plays as well as short stories and poetry.
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