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Sleeping Beauty (2011)

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clip The job interview

Original classification rating: MA. This clip chosen to be PG

Clip description

Lucy (Emily Browning) arrives for an interview with Clara (Rachael Blake) in reply to the job advertisement she saw in the student newspaper. The job is involves being a lingerie waitress but there is ‘room for promotion’, according to Clara.

Curator’s notes

The strange formality of this sequence in content as well as style is symptomatic of the off-kilter tone of the film as a whole. The sequence is stylised to the point of being dreamlike and slightly sinister – listen to the vaguely threatening tone Clara adopts in warning Lucy that she faces heavy penalties for any breach of discretion.

In outlining the job and promotion prospects, Clara is oddly blunt and at the same time mysteriously evasive. The clear implication is that the lingerie waitressing for which Lucy is being interviewed may lead to a more intimate form of sexual work, yet Clara’s language is peculiarly formal and high-blown.

The sequence is part of a scene that consists of an unusually long take lasting for five-and-a-half minutes. This use of long shot (the camera at a distance) and very long take (no edits) lends the sequence a cool, objective tone, as does the symmetrical way in which Lucy and Clare are arranged in the frame. Viewers are encouraged to feel they are viewing the action at one remove, as opposed to becoming emotionally involved.

The laptop surveillance at the start of the sequence explicitly introduces a theme of voyeurism that is mostly implicit through the rest of the film. The formal style forces the viewer into becoming a voyeur at the same time as it gives them space to contemplate this.

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australianscreen is produced by the National Film and Sound Archive. By using the website you agree to comply with the terms and conditions described elsewhere on this site. The NFSA may amend the 'Conditions of Use’ from time to time without notice.

All materials on the site, including but not limited to text, video clips, audio clips, designs, logos, illustrations and still images, are protected by the Copyright Laws of Australia and international conventions.

When you access australianscreen you agree that:

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  • You may download materials for your personal use or for non-commercial educational purposes, but you must not publish them elsewhere or redistribute clips in any way.
  • You may embed the clip for non-commercial educational purposes including for use on a school intranet site or a school resource catalogue.
  • The National Film and Sound Archive’s permission must be sought to amend any information in the materials, unless otherwise stated in notices throughout the Site.

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