COVID in the end didn’t reap anywhere near as many ‘play-like’ film productions as I thought it would. The type of film such as this one where two or a few more characters are solely within one room in the fashion of a classic two-hander stage play with of course a filmic flare. The history of play to film adaptations with a few major positive standouts withstanding is of course not also the glowing history of per-say movie musicals few a few major negative standouts withstanding. The reasons for this I have no concept for other than I can speculate the degree of difficulty when it comes to pulling one of these off. For instance the director has to have a capability to make the mundane cinematic, which Sanctuary with Zachary Wigon has, it must have two actors of incredible talent to demand the screen for the complete run-time, which with Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbot this film certainly has, and must have a sublime script that never slackens and must pull the weight in its dialogue more than a normal script has to, which with Micha Bloomberg’s script this film… does have, but not perhaps to the degree of sticking the landing that one requires.
This tale of a high ranking business leader who has just inherited his father’s company following his death, and the power-play relationship he has with his dominatrix after informing her of the decision that he will no longer be requiring her services, is a thrilling, entertaining and erotic drama that works very well within its limitations. Sanctuary plays out as you’d expect with not very many surprises, it begins with an extended presentation of one of the scenarios that our two leads Margaret Qualley, our dominatrix, and Christopher Abbot, our business leader, go about on a regular basis we find. The scenario despite its depravity is rather chased in its presentation and although the film does have the veneer of an overly sexual film, it is actually quite subtle and more sensual in how it presents its eroticism, focussing repeatedly more on word-play rather than actual actions. Wigon’s direction of much of the film relies on camera tricks that tell through the movement of the camera the mental distortion of our characters and how nothing is ever as it seems. The nature of how the film begins with its’ scripted sex-play and it breaking and discussion of its own dialogue leads one to forever be on their toes when it comes to what is and isn’t truth. As I find with a lot of these thrillers built around similar concepts, they grow quite tired quite easily, as a matter of fact it was regrettably early into Sanctuary that I began to wain on the powerplay shifts that this film has as its main crux. All the same Wigon’s direction and Bloomberg’s script are for the most part very solid and entertaining throughout.
However the
film’s undoubted greatest assets are with its’ two sole performances in Qualley
and Abbot. Both of which are truly astounding in their balance of sexuality,
power, submission, drama, tension and at times even comedy. Qualley is beyond entertaining
in her manipulation and power-play with Abbot and offers repeatedly the emotional
subtlety and glimpses behind the façade that make this film work as well as I
feel it does. Abbot too is on a different level where he is often juggling as
and when to present just how much dangerous power he actually wields in this erotic
and perhaps even romantic situation. Together their chemistry is sublime and I sincerely
find them to be two of my favourite performances of the year as we reach its’
mid-point. Above all else I think moving forward this film will grow into an
artefact of Abbot and Qualley’s first powerhouse transcendent work of absolute
charisma, Qualley and Abbot have done excellent work in smaller dramas and have
each stolen ensemble in their own right, however paired together here they
launch into something truly special.
A sleek and entertaining 7/10 that regrettably looses its way ever so slightly in the repetitive nature of its beast. In the constant games of deception, Sanctuary ends up making its audience aggravated, rather than enthralled. The performances however can not be faulted and for the most part Wigon’s direction does wonders in making the film cinematic, even if at times it feels intentionally ‘showy’ rather than natural. Sanctuary’s ending is an example of a screenplay that doesn’t land its final note being bettered and almost working due to the absolute sensational charisma and chemistry of its two lead performers. I enjoyed Sanctuary and it’s pulsating eroticism and dangerous drama a lot, however I don’t know as or when I will return to it with the unfulfilling nature of its ultimate arc.
P.S. In many ways Abbot’s character is Kendal Roy if he had major dominance kinks, which who knows maybe our boy Ken had. For a Succession fan as myself it offers a bizarre alternate world where our favourite tragic sad-boy got the relief and happiness he sought through an emotionally entangled relationship with a dominatrix. Maybe this is what Jesse Armstrong considered for a fifth season?
- - Thomas Carruthers
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