Overview: Nightmare and trauma. Fear and repression. Guilt and atonement. Weaving together the emotional violence of horror with the cryptic motifs of German folk and fairy tales, Arrow Video is proud to present Sleep, the debut feature from a major new talent in world cinema.

Tormented by recurring nightmares of a place she has never been, Marlene (Sandra Hüller, Requiem) cannot help but investigate when she discovers the place is real. Once there, she suffers a breakdown and is admitted to a psychiatric ward.

Determined to discover what happened to her, Mona (Gro Swantje Kohlhof), her daughter, follows and finds herself in Stainbach, an idyllic village with a dark history.

What is it that so tormented her mother, and the people of Stainbach? What is the source of the nightmares she suffers? And who is the mysterious Trude that lives in the forest?.

Blu-ray Verdict: Marlene (Sandra Hüller) is a flight attendant who suffers from severe nightmares, from which she awakens to draw sketches of her dreams.

Her adult daughter Mona (Gro Swantje Kohlhof) takes care of her, but believes her when she says she’s scheduled for a flight to Turkey. Instead, Marlene follows her dream sketches to a hotel in the remote heartland of Germany, a town called Stainbach; but is soon hospitalized after a psychotic break at the hotel.

Mona finds her, decides to stay at the same hotel run by Otto (August Schmölzer) and his wife Lore (Marion Kracht), but soon finds that the past is very much with the present in this hotel. This includes the suicides of the three founders, Otto’s mentors, and the fact that Otto needs to be tethered to his bed to prevent him getting out at night.

Admittedly that is a very vague outline of this very highly effective movie, which is really a deep dive into how the past affects the present, how bygone evil deeds and beliefs can retain their allure for some people, and how, sometimes, it’s hard to know what reality truly is. In truth, I expected to be scared by this movie, mostly because of its framing, but I never really got that jolt of adrenalin from fear because it is far more subtle than that.

Instead, I ended up finding myself thinking a lot about uncomfortable subjects such as the resurgence of fascism that has never really left us, and how easily it can come back!

But I digress for, and in closing, Sleep is most definitely a good, solid watch due to including social commentary and references to German history, though some are bound to miss their intended mark to all outsiders of the country, of course. Highly recommended. [AC] This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:

High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Original DTS-MA 5.1 audio
Optional English subtitles
Audio commentary by film critic and historian Kim Newman & author Sean Hogan
A Strange Dark Magic, a visual essay by film scholar Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
Sleepwalking through National Trauma, a visual essay by film critic Anton Bitel
Dream & Folktale in Sleep, an interview with anthropologist, dream researcher, and filmmaker Louise S. Milne
This is No Dream, a short introduction by director Michael Venus and star Gro Swantje Kohlhof
Talking in their Sleep, director Michael Venus and star Gro Swantje Kohlhof in conversation
A Dream We Dream Together, a compilation of film festival introductions created during lockdown by director Michael Venus and the cast of Sleep
Making Dreams Come True, a glimpse behind the scenes of Sleep
Deleted Scenes
Marlene’s Sketches, explore the many obsessive dream journal sketches that are only glimpsed in the film, created by artist Christoph Vieweg, presented here in full
Trailer
Image Gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Oink Creative
Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Alison Peirse, an interview with director Michael Venus, and Brothers Grimm fairy tale Frau Trude
Double-sided fold-out poster featuring newly commissioned artwork by Oink Creative