Directed By Zachary Wigon

Starring – Christopher Abbott, Margaret Qualley, Danita Battle

The Plot – Follows a dominatrix (Qualley) and Hal (Abbott), her wealthy client, and the disaster that ensues when Hal tries to end their relationship.

Rated R for sexual content and adult language

SANCTUARY – Official Trailer – YouTube

POSITIVES

For only a second time director unloading his first direction in over eight years, Wigon shows tremendous depth in this claustrophobic psycho-erotic thriller that surprisingly doesn’t feel restrained or condensed, despite the entirety of the film taking place in a one stage setting. From the opening engagement between our dual protagonists, we’re hooked to the air of their dynamic, with manipulated realities and role reversals conveying insight into the power struggle of their relationship, which will come into play frequently throughout the developing conflict within the narrative. So immediately, the audience are given unreliable narrators to the introduction, which not only articulates that not everything is as it rightfully seems within this arrangment, but also that each of these characters bare an advantageous psychological exploit over each other, prescribing many unique twists and scintillating turns within this one night that plays all the more endearing towards the air of their tug-of-war power struggle that grows all the more expensively taxing with each passing moment. Beyond this, Wigon’s style for presentation is off of the charts, with luminating color in set decoration and transition shots, meaningful shot movements that articulate tone in the scenes they accompany, and an unexpected jazz score that organically builds the tension like a corresponding heartbeat that grows to errupting levels of volume in the various pay-offs. The dialogue is also highly beneficial, painting much insight about the histories and phobias of the characters, without deliberately stating such, and the screenplay from writing veteran Mitch Bloomberg inscribes many compelling themes unraveled between the exchanges, but particularly the idea of fetishes, and what they say about our own internal traumas. This is all of course aided by the powerhouse performances from Abbott and Qualley, who not only share an demandingly complex and shape-shifting chemistry that balances between menacingly threatening and sweetly serene, but also an air for opportunity that cements each of them many sinisterly shining moments. This is especially the case for Qualley, who invests confidence and dominance over a role of a lifetime, with many instances in her threatening deliveries that are downright chilling, especially when she’s looking directly into the camera. Abbott is obviously no slouch either, as his character’s timultuous past exudes traumas and overwhelming vulnerability to the character that often serves as the exploit for Qualley, preserving a mental chess game between these dual adversaries that conveys perhaps that they know each other better than anyone else in their respective lives. Finally, while the film is advertised as an erotic thriller, it’s essentially tame in its lack of nudity or even sexualization that audiences probably expect with this kind of premise. While there is one film involving sex between the characters, it’s done tastefully in ways that leave more to the imagination, proving that while sex is a meaningful merit of currency between the dual protagonists, it’s not everything that drives each of them, which is all the more illustrated within the motivation of their ever-changing dynamic, providing a deeper connection between them in tow.

NEGATIVES

Tonally and emotionally, there’s lots of versatility in the air of this screenplay, but a couple moments of intended humor I felt directly took the air of momentum out of the context of the scenes they accompanied, leading towards diminishing tension that I felt would be better served without them ever being included, to begin with. This is my only critique towards the air of Wigon’s direction, as a majority of such is transfixingly hypnotic, but it’s almost like a shameless self-indulgence that he can’t resist, especially since it happens a couple of times during the second act. For my money, I wish the interaction between the two characters at their most challenging times remained dramatic, especially since the humor seems improper at a time when blackmail is threatening to cost so much to each of these characters. Besides this, I also found the ending to be slightly disappointing, especially considering some aspects with the resolution seem to only work convincingly if you are under the spell of rich people can, and often do, get whatever they desire. Considering so much of the set-up lends itself towards these two characters deconstructing each other along the way, the resolution feels a bit untimely and unearned, especially in the way one of them is left with a tremendous fortune that carries with it its own monumental lapses in logic. It’s a little too safe for a film with so much ferocity.

OVERALL
“Sanctuary” piles on the pleasure with dominating performances from Christopher Abbott and Margaret Qualley, as well as a compelling offbeat deconstruction on gender roles. With the benefit of entrancing style to Wigon’s masterful direction, the film is able to evade momentary disappointments pertaining to a safely underwhelming finale, and with so many ruthless twists inside of this scintillating one-night stand, you’ll need a safe word to effectively evade its charms.

My Grade: 8/10 or B+