Taglines: His game. Her rules.
Sanctuary movie storyline. As Hal orders room service in a fancy hotel, Rebecca arrives to give him an interview for the position of CEO at this hotel chain. Her questions become increasingly personal and eventually turn to sexual degradation. She is in fact a dominatrix following a script that Hal has prepared to shame him.
After she forces him to clean the bathroom in his underwear, she allows him to climax and the two end their scene and have dinner. He thanks her and they briefly discuss his transition to actually being CEO of the company after his father’s death. He explains that he can no longer see her, as it is not appropriate in his new lifestyle and gives her an extremely expensive watch. She is clearly offended and leaves abruptly.
At the elevator, she has a realization and returns to the hotel room. Using some of the business philosophy that Hal’s father put into his management book, she alleges that Hal is a weak loser. She is really responsible for making him the man he is and demands half of his first year salary: $4 million. To force him into giving her the money, she alleges that she has recorded their sessions and will leak them to the public. At first Hal does not believe her and then acts as though he is undisturbed by the blackmail threat, but he eventually trashes the apartment in a rage looking for the camera as Rebecca dances to disco and mocks him.
Hal accidentally electrocutes himself and while lying on the floor humiliated, Rebecca points out that he is aroused by it. He again demands that he is actually in control of their relationship and that it is purely transactional: he has no emotional attachment to her and if he wanted, he could have her killed. She seems disturbed by this at first, but eventually forces herself on him, raping him at knifepoint and saying that she will get pregnant by him and they will have a child together, tying the two of them together for life.
Hal goes to his laptop to arrange to have the money wired to Rebecca. She leaves once again, but this time Hal intercepts her at the elevator and demands to get some collateral to ensure that she will not keep on dragging out blackmail threats indefinitely. She refuses and insists that there is nothing he can do to be in control. He drags her back into the hotel room and demands to know what is really happening.
She shows him footage that she has secretly recorded. Hal is so despondent that he ties Rebecca to a bedpost and threatens to murder–suicide the two of them. He orders her to admit that this is not real or he will harm her and even uses their safeword “sanctuary”, but Rebecca continues: she tells him that she has quit her job as a dominatrix and has even broken up with her fiancee, as she only feels self-actualized during their sessions.
Sanctuary is a 2022 American psychological thriller film directed by Zachary Wigon from a screenplay by Micah Bloomberg. It stars Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott as a dominatrix and her client who have an emotionally intense final session as he transitions to the life of CEO of a large company. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2022, and received a limited theatrical release in the United States on May 19, 2023. The film has received positive reviews from critics.
Sanctuary (2023)
Directed by: Zachary Wigon
Starring: Margaret Qualley, Christopher Abbott
Screenplay by: Micah Bloomberg
Production Design by: Jason Singleton
Cinematography by: Ludovica Isidori
Film Editing by: Kate Brokaw, Lance Edmands
Costume Design by: Mirren Gordon-Crozier
Set Decoration by: Amber Thrane
Music by: Ariel Marx
MPAA Rating: R for sexual content and language.
Distributed by: Neon
Release Date: September 11, 2022 (TIFF), May 19, 2023 (United States)
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