Fantasia Fest 2020: ‘Sleep’ is a mangled & thrilling psychosis setpiece

Everyone has to sleep. And if we don’t sleep, we go mad. Dreams and nightmares spill into the real world, and as the mind swells and aches, often triggering a host of disorders, the lines between states of consciousness become a blurred mess. Such is the case with Michael Venus’ Sleep (or Schlaf), a German film making its North American premiere at Fantasia 2020. Venus analyzes mental health, sleep, psychosis, and trauma so deep and gruesome that it stretches through time, stemming from raw, unimaginable horror.

Gro Swantje Kohlhof plays 19-year-old Mona, whose mother Marlene (Sandra Hüller) begins to suffer recurring nightmares that chip away at her mental state. Marlene’s torment, psychological and physical, bends its gnarled, wart-laden fingertips from one dimension to the next, and the viewer is as none the wiser to what’s happening as Mona is. Following a nervous breakdown, Marlene is admitted to a hospital lying on the outskirts of a small, secluded German village. Mona goes to visit and takes up temporary residence at a nearby hotel, which harbors a terribly unsettling history, from a series of suicides to several grisly murders.

The hotel’s proprietors Otto (August Schmölzer) and Lore (Marion Kracht) are nice enough, perhaps to an uncomfortable degree, and the seemingly endless estate feels eerily reminiscent of the Overlook Hotel. Mona also strikes up a fleeting but intense romance with Christoph (Max Hubacher), who happens to be Lore and Otto’s son. As cheery as it all appears, things aren’t as they seem. Mona soon suspects something deeply troubling about not only her mother’s swiftly deteriorating state but a force that appears to be arresting her own body and mind, as well.

Sleep follows Mona’s desperate search for truth, but her own lack of any restful slumber begins to take its toll. Venus tinkers with the very real impact disorders like insomnia and psychosis have on the human form, guiding the viewer into a mind-melting funhouse from which you may not even escape. Great attention is kept on calculated reveals, somber mood-setting, and a delicate, yet measured, pace. And Kohlhof delivers up a remarkable and emotional performance; she approaches various beats, whether it is a moment of utter delusion or an intimate conversation, with a quiet command.

Sleep extricates its share of tropes, such as bizarre, chicken-scratch drawings depicting evil entities, and reapplies them in more harrowing, grounded ways. It doesn’t always stick the landing, but a sequence of disturbing, chilling revelations in the third act is certainly worth price of admission. As far as debut features go, Michael Venus’ first outing brims with thought-provoking storytelling and performances across the board that’ll unsettle you to the core.

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