SANCTUARY (2023) - Mark Reviews Movies

Sanctuary, Neon

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Review by Mark Dujsik | May 18, 2023

At times, it's too easy to forget that all that is necessary for conflict—and, hence, drama—is two people who want or believe they want different things. Such is the simple foundation of the drama of Sanctuary, a two-hander set in a fancy hotel room where a man and a woman meet with one shared goal in mind, only for matters to spiral out of control when one of them says what the other perceives as the wrong thing.

Those are the basics, reduced to the core of a premise, of Micah Bloomberg's screenplay, but obviously, there is a lot more going on here than a meager disagreement about professional and personal etiquette. As these two characters argue and attempt to get what each one wants from the other, Bloomberg also gives us a rather entertaining, fairly subversive, and consistently engaging study of negotiation, manipulation, and power. That it's also sexy, occasionally frightening, and ultimately and convincingly the last thing one might expect after witnessing the full extent of this conflict is a testament to the strength of Bloomberg's writing, Zachary Wigon's direction, and the lead performances.

It all begins with the first of many expectations in need of breaking in this story. We meet Hal (Christopher Abbott), the son of a recently deceased owner of a franchise of high-end hotels. He is the heir apparent to the role of running the company, but some last-minute details need to be sorted before he can assume the position.

Those details, apparently, are to be cleared up by Rebecca (Margaret Qualley), who arrives at the hotel room where Hal staying. She has some questions for him to answer, because the company's board of directors, while knowing who Hal is, will want to know what kind of person and leader this fortunate son might be before accepting him as the new CEO.

Initially, their conversation seems to be of the straight-to-business variety, as Rebecca puts down her briefcase, takes some papers out of it, refuses Hal's offer of a drink, and gets right to the task at hand. She needs to get some information from Hal, and he needs to speak the truth, because, if he doesn't, Rebecca and the law firm where she works will find that truth anyway.

Two questions in, everything seems normal: his date of birth and Social Security number. Then, Rebecca asks Hal for his height and weight. Something about that doesn't quite seem right, and eventually, Rebecca is putting a pen in her mouth in a very suggestive way and scolding Hal for his obvious lies.

It's difficult to determine how much to reveal after this point, not only because the concept of offering a plot synopsis for a film such as this—one that focuses on what people say, don't say, lie about, change their minds on, and hold off from saying until a specific moment over the course of a multi-part conversation—is patently ridiculous, but also because the element of surprise is so essential and persuasive in this narrative. We think we know who Rebecca and Hal are, as well as what the nature of their relationship is, at any given point. However, who these people are and what their relationship is over the course of the story change in some significant ways and, more tellingly, remain constants in others.

The game here is trying to determine which parts are the changes and which ones are the constants. It also is, on more specific level, a game for both of these characters, although part of the game of Bloomberg's script is how the person making the rules shifts—or only appears to shift—as the lengthy conversation unfolds.

What can, perhaps, be said of the story is that the real relationship between Hal and Rebecca is a wholly transactional one. After a—let's call it—"successful business interaction" on the bathroom floor, Hal announces that it's time for his relationship with Rebecca to come to an end, and he gifts her an expensive watch as a kind of retirement present. That, though, is not enough for Rebecca, who wants appropriate compensation relative to what Hal is now worth, since she believes he wouldn't be in the position he is without her influence.

Again, the majority of the story takes place in this lavish but still confined hotel room, with a couple excursions into the hallway, and Wigon uses that limitation to fine effect here. Shooting mostly in close-ups, the director gives us a sense of both the intensity, as well as the often uncomfortable intimacy, of this discussion/argument/negotiation/case of blackmail and how these characters, while existing in the same space, are in and of completely different worlds and worldviews. That pattern also allows the breaks from the tight framing to have a greater impact, whether that be Hal running around the room and smashing things to find Rebecca's leverage or a constricted two-shot of the couple taking their bond to a new level—for whatever reason each one might have for doing so.

Obviously, the approach mainly allows us to focus on these performances, which create compelling, nuanced characters even as the two actors also have to keep up the game of deception and uncertainty that the screenplay requires of them. Abbott plays a man in the middle of a crisis about how much of his life has become a performance, and with a much showier role, Qualley still convinces us of some underlying truth about the character—although there's a lot more scraping at layers of deception with Rebecca than with Hal.

With energetic insight and humor, Sanctuary scrapes and scrapes at these characters and the power dynamics between them. The final beat, a perfect punch line told in a tone that's completely uncharacteristic to the rest of the film, proves the work the filmmakers have done.

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