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Clip description
Lucy (Emily Browning) submits to a medical experiment involving a narrow tube being inserted down her throat.
Curator’s notes
Part of the first scene, this sets up the pattern for the rest of Sleeping Beauty in terms of both the lead character’s emotional distance and general passivity, and the film’s formal style.
Lucy submits to what is clearly an unpleasant experience – at one point she nearly gags – with patience and detachment. This foreshadows how she will behave in the strange restaurant and then brothel in which she finds employment later on.
The scene’s visual design (white production design and costumes), camerawork (the still camera records the scene without close-ups) and editing (the use of long takes) communicate a sense of coldness, formality and lack of emotion. Also notable is the sparse dialogue. The experiment is not explained.
