Sanctuary

Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott

Zachary Wigon's Sanctuary is a two handed chamber drama. Rebecca (Margaret Qualley), a dominatrix, and Hal (Christopher Abbott), a poor little rich boy with daddy issues, take turns playing alpha dog. An exercise in cosplay, Sanctuary occasionally transcends its ludicrous premise, Rebecca blackmailing Hal to become CEO of his company, due to the immediacy of its direction.

Wigon, counterintuitively, opts for a widescreen (2.39:1) framing of the duo with the action limited to a 45th floor penthouse suite in Denver. Rebecca and Hal are often at loggerheads and Wigon emphasizes this by often having them at opposite sides of his frame. Wigon's skill almost makes this a good film, but Micah Bloomberg's script stretches one's credulity so much that Wigon can't wallpaper over the illogic. There is a mechanistically transgressive air to the film. It as if Jeanne Dielman... was the goal, but the end result seems more like The Odd Couple. 

The two leads are watchable. Abbott is almost too perfectly cast as the submissive Hal. If someone wants to remake Salo. he would be an apt victim. His performance is technically perfect, but doesn't quite mine his character's neediness. Qualley is not perfectly cast, the role calls for the belligerent moxie of an Aubrey Plaza, but she is game and fares well when required to spurt out rat-a-tat dialogue. When Qualley descends from the dubious pedestal of sex symbol, a career in comedy awaits.