Max Richter's Sleep
Synopsis
Imagine you’re dreaming, and in your dream you pick a flower in heaven, and then you wake up with the flower in your hand. This is the kind of experience that composer Max Richter hopes to make palpable among the audience for 'Sleep', an eight-hour-long piece of music that explores of the liminal space between wakefulness and sleep, between consciousness and subconsciousness.
Taking as its chronological guide an ambitious outdoor performance of the composition in central Los Angeles, this salubrious film immerses us in the making of the piece, and in the life of its composer. His wife, artist Yulia Mahr, is his mainstay in both his private and professional life. From her words, it’s clear that grand, intense art such as this cannot come into being without some sacrifice.
The film makes palpable the sense of being present at the performance, partly through many visitors’ exquisitely well-formulated descriptions of their experiences. Shots of the audience lying on camping beds - some alone, others entwined with a loved one - low organically into shots of the musicians, interviews and nocturnal city. And all this is accompanied by the enchanting music itself.
Official Selection IDFA 2019 - IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary - World premiere
Official Selection Sundance Film Festival 2020 - Special Events Programme
Details
- Year
- 2019
- Type of film
- Features
- Running Time
- 99 min
- Director
- Natalie Johns
- Producer
- Julie Jakobek, Yulia Mahr, Stefan Demetriou, Oualid Mouaness
- Editor
- Michael Carter, Matt Cronin, Dom Whitworth
- Director of Photography
- Peter Cadman, Elisha Christian, Matthias Maercks, James Tonkin
- Music
- Max Richter
Genre
Production status
Complete
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Last updated 7th January 2020
