Having caused a stir at Cannes, Julia Leigh’s debut Sleeping Beauty has been one of the more highly anticipated films of the season, intriguing film-lovers with its unusual premise and the hope of something stimulating and thought provoking. Alas, this is not the case.

Emily Browning plays Lucy, a broke student working a number of menial jobs just to get by; waitressing, temping, the odd bit of prostitution. You know how it is. She also helps out with medical research, which manifests itself in a nauseating opening scene in which a plastic tube is inserted down Lucy’s throat. The scene itself is effective; the white, clinical setting, the look of utter passivity on Lucy’s face as she allows her body to be invaded. It is evident what Leigh is hoping to achieve – this concept of female passivity is at the heart of the film – but unfortunately it all falls apart as it progresses.

Unexpectedly, Lucy stumbles across the most lucrative job yet; this is where it gets really weird. And not in a good way.  In a secluded mansion, in a drug-induced coma, Lucy’s body is offered up to the rich and not-so-beautiful; old men, past their sexual peak, who pay ludicrous amounts of money to do whatsoever they will with Lucy’s unconscious naked body. As well as being utterly implausible, the undertones of rape and necrophilia make this an uncomfortable watch. There is nothing intriguing or thought-provoking going on here; it is crude, self-indulgent, and ultimately pointless.

In various reviews, Sleeping Beauty has been likened to the works of Michael Haneke, Lars Von Trier and even Stanley Kubrick, with critics praising the cinematography of the film despite the other shortcomings they observed. Yet linking this dreary, illogical film with such esteemed auteurs seems wildly unfair. Admittedly, Leigh’s debut does have a European feel about it; it is sexually explicit without being pornographic, and her attempts at subtlety and sophistication are evident.  Unfortunately she just doesn’t pull it off, and the end result is a baffling melange that doesn’t meet up to its high expectations.