''Sleeping Beauties'' is a 1999 short comedy film directed by

Jamie Babbit Jamie Merill Babbit (born November 16, 1970) is an American director, producer and screenwriter. She directed the films '' But I'm a Cheerleader'', '' The Quiet'' and ''Itty Bitty Titty Committee''. She has also directed episodes of television pr ...

. It premiered at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. It stars

Sarah Lassez Sarah Lassez is a French-American-Canadian actress and author. She was born in Canada to French parents and raised in Australia. At the age of 14, she moved to New York City and currently lives in Los Angeles. Sarah Lassez is best known for h ...

as a

morgue A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have cu ...

beautician trying to get over her ex-girlfriend, played by

Radha Mitchell Radha Rani Amber Indigo Ananda Mitchell is an Australian actress. She started her career with various appearances on Australian television, including a regular role as Catherine O'Brien in the soap opera ''Neighbours'' (1996–97). Mitchell la ...

. Babbit made the film with help from David Fincher and

Michael Douglas Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the A ...

. It played at several film festivals during 1998 and 1999, and was later distributed on a DVD collection of short films by production company

POWER UP POWER UP (the "Professional Organization of Women in Entertainment Reaching Up") is an American non-profit organization and film production company with the stated mission "to promote the visibility and integration of gay women in entertainment ...

. Babbit won a

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

award for the film.

Plot

A mother tells her daughter a real life fairy tale of a " Princess Charming" and her

Sleeping Beauty ''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...

. Heather (Lassez) is in love with her girlfriend Cindy (Mitchell) until one day Cindy "wakes up" and breaks up with Heather, saying she wants a "real prince". Heather works as a make up artist at Rolling Headstones Funeral Home in Los Angeles, "making dead rock-stars look good" for their next album covers. One day she is working on the body of musician Sno Blo (

Rose McGowan Rósa Arianna "Rose" McGowan (born September 5, 1973) is an American actress. After her film debut in a brief role in the comedy '' Encino Man'' (1992), McGowan achieved wider recognition for her performance in the dark comedy ''The Doom Generat ...

). Her co-worker Vince (

Vince Vieluf Vincent Ernest "Vince" Vieluf (pronounced ''Vee-loff''; born November 10, 1970) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in ''Rat Race'' and the short-lived UPN sitcom '' Love, Inc.'' Life and career Vieluf was born in Joliet, Illi ...

) brings his new girlfriend to the funeral home. It is Cindy, who is moving back to Los Angeles and wants to be friends with Heather. Before Sno Blo is buried, the members of her band have a photo shoot with her at her grave side. Heather does the makeup. The photographer's assistant Clea (

Clea DuVall Clea Helen D'Etienne DuVall (born September 25, 1977) is an American actress, writer, producer, and director. She is known for her appearances in the films ''The Faculty'' (1998), '' She's All That''; '' But I'm a Cheerleader''; ''Girl, Interrup ...

) flirts with Heather and gives her her telephone number, but Heather can only think about Cindy. Cindy arrives with Vince and tries to persuade the remaining members of the band to let her be their manager. When Vince ruins the opportunity for her, she gets angry with him and tells Heather she'll be staying with her. When Heather gets home, she finds Cindy sleeping in her bed. She kisses Cindy to wake her up, and asks for some kind of a response. Cindy tells Heather that she can kiss her if she wants to, but not to expect anything back from her. Heather tells Cindy to get out of her bed and telephones Clea. Later, Heather practices her makeup techniques on Clea and they kiss. At the end, the narrator (Heather) is joined by Clea to finish telling the story to their daughter.

Cast

as Heather *

as Cindy, Heather's ex-girlfriend and Vince's new girlfriend *

as Clea, photographer's assistant working on the Sno Blo photo shoot *

as Vince, Heather's co-worker at the funeral home *

as Sno Blo, dead rock star *

Nicole Eggert Nicole Elizabeth Eggert (born January 13, 1972) is an American actress. Her notable roles include Jamie Powell on the situation comedy ''Charles in Charge'' and Summer Quinn on the television series ''Baywatch''. She guest-starred in '' The Supe ...

as Sno Blo Band * Leisha Hailey as Sno Blo band * Chris Garnant as Sno Blo Band * Bob Stephenson as Record Executive * Tracy Grant as Record Executive * Tony Friedkin as Still Photographer * Harper Roisman as Priest * Emily Sperling as Little Heather * Cheyene O'Brian as Little Cindy

Production

Director Jamie Babbit was a script supervisor on David Fincher's 1997 film '' The Game''. While working on ''The Game'', she discussed her idea for a short film based on a fairy tale with Fincher. He was interested in the project, and gave Babbit about 6,000

feet The foot ( : feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made ...

of 35mm film. His editor gave her free use of an Avid editing machine. The star of ''The Game'',

, wrote to

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

and asked them to give Babbit access to their costume department. As a result, she was able to make ''Sleeping Beauties'' for about $10,000. The soundtrack of ''Sleeping Beauties'' features the song "Pity Rock" by Madigan Shive.

Distribution and reception

''Sleeping Beauties'' premiered at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival and went on to play at over thirty film festivals including the

Los Angeles Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episod ...

and the

London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival, formerly known as the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (LLGFF), is the biggest LGBTIQ+ film festival in Europe. It takes place every spring in London, England. It began in 1986, as a season of gay and ...

. The film features on ''Girls on Film'', a DVD compilation of short films released by production company

. Writing for ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...

'',

Amy Taubin Amy Taubin (born September 10, 1938) is an American author and film critic. She is a contributing editor for two prominent film magazines, the British ''Sight & Sound'' and the American ''Film Comment''. She has also written regularly for ''The V ...

called ''Sleeping Beauties'' an embryonic version of Babbit's feature debut '' But I'm a Cheerleader'' and said that it has a "raunchy edge" that ''But I'm a Cheerleader'' lacks. In 1999, ''Sleeping Beauties'' won the C4TX award for best short film from British television station

References

External links

* *https://web.archive.org/web/20160303232011/http://www.outfest.org/legacy/anniversary/babbit_clips.php {{Jamie Babbit 1999 films 1999 romantic comedy films 1999 LGBT-related films American romantic comedy films American LGBT-related films American short films American independent films Lesbian-related films Fictional beauticians LGBT-related short films Films directed by Jamie Babbit Films produced by Andrea Sperling 1999 short films 1999 independent films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films