PLOT: A wickedly dark comedy follows dominatrix, Rebecca (Margaret Qualley), and her wealthy client, Hal (Christopher Abbott), as they engage in a high stakes role-playing game for power and control.
REVIEW: There’s an uncomfortability present in nearly every frame of Sanctuary. And I think that’s where so much of the appeal lies. There’s an inherit nastiness when it comes to many different power dynamics and that’s very much true here. But it’s within that nastiness where some true intrigue lies. Because, despite one of the characters paying the other an exorbitant amount of money to humiliate him, both are getting something out of this. And it’s that grey area where the film truly flourishes.
Sanctuary is about Hal ending his “relationship” with his dominatrix Rebecca. But Rebecca doesn’t take kindly to this and tries to turn Hal’s life upside down. Christopher Abbott and Margaret Qualley are absolutely phenomenal in their respective roles. Both have always stood out in their projects but it’s great to see two actors take such control of the material. This would have been tough to make work with anyone else as it’s both their chemistry and how they play the brief moments when they’re apart that really highlights their performances. My opinion of them changed a hundred times throughout the film as power shifted.
It’s always tough when a film only features two people on screen for the entire duration (I’m not counting that couple at the elevator) and these two nail it. This is such a complicated relationship and would have been so easy for them to mess up. In fact, I commend the film for specifically making sure that the viewers’ eyes rest mostly upon Hal and Rebecca. Just like in their games, they are the only two players present and the outside world is irrelevant. We only know what Hal and Rebecca tell us and, even then, who’s to say how much is actually true?
Directed by Zachary Wigon, he has quite the visual flare which really gives the film a distinct tone. The camera work is easily one of my favorite aspects. At one point it sways from side to side, following Hal as his world gets flipped upside down. It does a great job of showing his panic, especially in his most vulnerable times. The camera is practically a third character. While I’d never seen Amazon’s Homecoming, writer Micah Bloomberg is making me second-guess this decision as he has a very unique voice.
I love the shift that occurs in the film when Hal fires Rebecca. The build-up of seeing him working his nerve up and the complete shellshock that hits poor Rebecca. Then, after seeing Hal do some truly pathetic things beneath her boot, the power shifts so dramatically that it’s hard not to get whiplash. But this isn’t the last power shift and it’s one of the many reasons that the film works so well. I could watch these two go back and forth for hours. And while there are plenty of twists and turns, some of the brilliance lies in how it stays the course, even when another shift is expected.
Any film that leaves my mind racing as the credits roll is worthy of a look, and Sanctuary certainly pulled that off. Any movie about a dominatrix is going to turn off those with more conservative sensibilities but even still, I implore you to try this out. Because it’s about so much more than just sexual gratification, it’s about power and all of the forms that it comes in. And if that’s not universal, I don’t know what is.
Sanctuary is NOW PLAYING in NEW YORK/LA and will release nationwide on JUNE 2nd, 2023.