In a Hotel Room, Fantasy Gives Way to Reality

Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott in
"Sanctuary"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com

When it comes to movies, hotel or motel rooms are often used as enticing or seedy locations to see characters who probably shouldn’t be together meet up in secret and reveal their true selves to each other.  Whatever it is we think we may know about these characters is stripped away as we learn deeper details about the people in the scene.  What’s disclosed about them changes the way of how we look at them through the rest of the film and puts the narrative stakes in a different light.

This is what’s accomplished with director Zachary Wigon’s psychological-thriller, “Sanctuary,” where he works within the limits of the small cast and sparse setting to deliver something that’ll keep you guessing as to what’s really at play.

Hal (Christopher Abbott) is the upcoming heir to a hotel empire and has become stressed with the expectations that he faces.  As a way to decompress, he hires Rebecca (Margaret Qualley), a dominatrix who he has regularly seen, for their latest session.  When he tries to end their relationship afterwards, Rebecca shows Hal that she won’t be kicked to the curb so easily.

Abbott does superb work in showing the shifts in the emotional arc of his character.  He does well is displaying the sketchiness of Hal in the first third of the movie, only to then show an anger and then a gradual vulnerability that presents a new side to his character, helping you understand the torment that he experiences in his mind.  It’s a shedding of layers that Abbott exhibits as Hal shows that he doesn’t really know what he wants and is weighed down by how others view him.

Qualley is fantastic as Rebecca, presenting her character as someone who’s much smarter and more intuitive than Hal gives her credit for.  She’s magnetic to watch as her character remains one step ahead of Hal, bringing forth a devilish glee as she picks him apart to show that she intends to come out on top by the time their session is over.  Just like with Abbott, Qualley shows her character’s complexities with skill as we go further into the film, breaking her character down to her bones as we learn about the truth behind Rebecca’s deviousness.

As a pair, Abbott and Qualley are dynamic as they keep their chemistry alive through the chaotic anti-chemistry of their damaged characters.  They’re the only people in this movie, meaning this whole film falls on them, and they bring the fire as they verbally spar and battle over who will be the winner by the time their night together ends.  Their interactions begin at a simmer, only to then become explosive mental battles that Abbott and Qualley devour with an unwavering energy.

The screenplay by Micah Bloomberg does a fine job with setting up the first third as a way to get us to know the two characters and the nuances of their relationship.  However, he starts to play with our expectations when what we think we know goes up in flames, throwing us into the rest of the film as we try to figure out which one of the two characters will claim the night.  He invites us into these behind-closed-doors mind games that threaten to take a turn for the worst in each scene, building on the twisted nature of the central relationship as Hal and Rebecca open up to each other when the games get more psychologically brutal.  You’re given insights about Hal and Rebecca’s backgrounds, which make you understand the shifts in power between them.  And, as the complications arise, Bloomberg has you wonder what’s real and what’s not in terms of what the two characters disclose to each other.

The eye-catching cinematography by Ludovica Isidori uses nifty camera movements as the tension begins to boil over and Hal scrambles to keep his life in order and secrets from getting out.  With the limited setting, he offers memorable visuals that capture the frenzied nature of the characters’ psyches, using every section within the expansive hotel room to have us wonder what kind of trouble might unfold in each of those spaces.

This is only Wigon’s second feature (his debut feature being the 2014 romantic-thriller, “The Heart Machine”), but he knows how to utilize the one-night timeframe, limited environment, and small cast to maximum, thrilling effect.  Despite the small setting, Wigon's direction doesn’t feel stagy, but instead weaves the camera through the components of the hotel room to maintain a freshness to the surroundings, capturing the drama between the characters that threatens to blow out the walls.  There’s an abundance of emotion and humor, and Wigon has both of those aspects hit their targets, thanks to his skilled handling of the occasional tonal shifts.

With “Sanctuary,” don’t make any assumptions as to where the story’s heading because the privacy of this hotel room holds many surprises.

Grade: A