Bluebeard, The Sleeping Beauty

In this double-bill, Breillat continues her portrayal of young female sexuality through two 17th century fairy tales by one of the inventors of the genre, author Charles Perrault. Bluebeard is the story of an aristocratic ogre with a history of murdering his wives and his most recent bride—just a child—who schemes to escape the fate of her predecessors. (78 mins., HDCam) In The Sleeping Beauty, a young girl cursed by a witch to die at 16 is given a reprieve by her three sisters, who instead cast a spell that causes her to sleep for 100 years. When awakened from her enchanted dream state as a fully formed adolescent, she embarks on a journey that teaches her not all endings are happy ones. (82 mins., HDCam)

Special thanks to Unifrance for their generous support of this retrospective.