STATE LIKE SLEEP
Directed by: Meredith Danluck
Starring: Katherine Waterstone, Michael Shannon, Luke Evans
A year after her celebrity actor husband Stephan committed suicide, photographer Katherine is drawn back to Belgium when her mother-in-law announces she is arranging for her old apartment to be sold. Finally taking time to sort out her dead husband's papers, Katherine discovers clues that lead her to believe her husband was leading a double life, and soon she is questioning whether he actually committed suicide, or was murdered…
The synopsis above might have you in mind of certain other Euro thrillers, however it is only part of what is going on and at times it is pushed right to the back of the queue, while Katherine deals with other relationship issues.
Chief among these is her mother, who tried to deal with the situation in Belgium on her own but her ailing health landed her in hospital instead. Although reasonably fine to begin with, both women have to come to terms with her worsening situation. At least she is able to get some barbs in at the mother-in-law, Anneke.
Its evident that after her husband's suicide, Katherine tried to cut away from her past. The loft apartment they shared hadn't been touched since, and still has loads of bottles lying around, evidence of either a last party or just neglect. As she helps clear up, Katherine finds Stephan's phone and some photo's which suggest that a) he was having an affair and b) someone might have been blackmailing him about it.
Katherine slowly starts to delve into Stephan's past, with flash-backs highlighting certain aspects (his drug use, reckless behaviour, flirting with other women). In the mean time she meets Emile (Evans), Stephan's best friend, who runs a fetish-style nightclub, and Edward (Shannon), an American on a business trip.
This isn’t a conventional thriller, by any means, and is likely to frustrate a lot of viewers. However there is enough going on with the relationships surrounding Katherine and the way she is finally coming to terms with her husbands death to make the film interesting. The closest film in the spirit of this is Personal Shopper.
The main cast is very good. Katherine Waterstone makes…Katherine…. sympathetic, who comes across at times like Alice in Wonderland, wandering off the beaten path to find answers, and reckless enough not to care whether she wants to hear them or not. Michael Shannon plays Edward with a world weariness and wit, while as usual Luke Evans steals every scene he is in.
There is one scene which I feel the narrative got completely wrong. Katherine meets a guy at Emile's club who turns out to have a hair fetish and asks her to take a bath so he can wash her hair. The scene is played for awkward laughs - the guy gets carried away and climaxes with his pants on, while Katherine sits bemused in the bath. The scene seems so out of place in the film and seems to be there to a) show how all fetishists are plain weird to "normal" folk and b) to set up a conversation between Edward and Katherine straight afterward.
THE VERDICT
State Like Sleep is a thriller which swaps thrills for emotional drama. It is well-acted and shot, with the night scenes in particular being great to look at as well as watch. I liked the scenes where Katherine wanders into the darker areas of Brussels and the two male leads add a fun dynamic. However the fetish scene should have been left out or re-written.
6 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)