Time: 96 Minutes
Age Rating: R16 – Sex scenes, sexual references, and offensive language
Cast:
Margaret Qualley as Rebecca Marin
Christopher Abbott as Hal Porterfield
Director: Zachary Wigon

Despite some flaws, Sanctuary is an entertaining and well made character study, carried by the excellent performances of Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott.

Sanctuary is largely a chamber piece, focussing on two characters in one room, and with a heavy emphasis on dialogue. Considering that it’s about a dominatrix and her client, you’d expect the movie to be more erotic than it actually turned out to be. Instead, it skips out on the sleaziness that you were expecting in favour of focussing on alternating power dynamics, which was definitely the right decision. It is captivating throughout, and largely sustains the tension throughout, mainly due to the dynamic between the two leads. It’s also an unconventional romantic film, with it being equal parts perverse and tender. The dialogue itself is witty, snappy, and darkly funny, while having a lot of nuance to it. The movie becomes more unhinged as it progresses, and as a result, it can become a little tonally all over the place at times. It does also drag a little in parts, but the 90 minute runtime prevents it from ever feeling genuinely boring.

The film’s biggest strength is the acting. Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott are fantastic and share some great chemistry together. Qualley brings so much energy to one of her best performances, while Abbott matches her every step of the way.

Zachary Wigon’s direction is solid and has enough style to make it appealing to watch beyond just the writing and performances. The cinematography is great and has good use of colour and lighting, and the blocking and camera movements were effective. It’s also helped by a top notch score from Ariel Marx, which really helps to set the tone and mood.

Sanctuary is a good psychological thriller, with a solid script, stylistic direction, and the great performances of Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott being the highlight.