“Sleepwalker” (2017) film trailer evokes a Film Noir edge, starring Richard Armitage as the Doctor, June 08, 2017 Gratiana Lovelace (Post #1067)

“Sleepwalker” trailer, via MarVista Entertainment

Hmmm. Interesting “Sleepwalker” film trailer. Thanks for sharing the link, TeresaA!  And here also is the link to RA’s tweet of the trailer.

The 2017 film  “Sleepwalker” stars Ahna O’Reilly in the title role as Sarah Foster—a woman troubled by violent dreams that threaten her life and her sanity.   And someone is now stalking and trying to harm her—in the dream, and maybe in real life.  So the film seems to be in the psychological thriller film genre.

 

And the film also stars British actor Richard Armitage (left as himself, representing his tv show Berlin Station in 2016) as her sleep/dream psychologist Dr. Scott White who is trying to piece together her dreams and what they mean, before it’s too late.

 

In the trailer above, we are introduced to the major protagonists—and an antagonist or two.  But I don’t think that I would have given away the mistress angle in the trailer–in case it gives away the ending.   I would have held that tidbit back from the trailer—and maybe only alluded to Ahna O’Reilly’s initially  uncertain relationship to the man who died.

And my lover of classic films and film noir buff self is already wondering about plot twists and such–with this other world angle.  As in, which world is the real world?  Her waking self?  Or her sleeping self?  Or is it some combination of the two worlds?

In a previous blog post of mine, I had wondered if “Sleepwalker” might be an homage to Hitchcock’s masterful 1945 film “Spellbound” (right) starring Gregory Peck as the patient and Ingrid Bergman as the doctor—with the gender roles flipped from “Sleepwalker”, he is the patient and she is the doctor.

In the “Spellbound”  film, its darkly violent dreams portended danger and ultimately a sense of guilt.  Danger is certainly present with “Sleepwalker” , but guilt is yet to be seen when we watch the whole film.

And in one very creepy “Spellbound” dream sequence film still (right) — that seems emblematic of a Salvador Dali-esque surrealism, by virtue of the eyes floating in a detached from reality collage.  We can only hope that the dream symbolism/clues in the “Sleepwalker” film will be equally as intriguing.

 

The “Sleepwalker” trailer already hints at malevolence in the form of  suffocation and/or disguise with the bag being pulled over Sarah’s head in violence–and also fabric being pulled over her head more slowly in another scene, as if she were behind what looks like drapery sheers, concealing herself or her identity.  And notice that Sarah’s nightgown is rather diaphanous, in a drapery sheer vein.

And the more recent dream themed film—if one can call 1984 recent, Ha!— “Dreamscape”  involved an other worldly dream world, wherein actions taken while asleep and dreaming had real life consequences.  Although “Dreamscape” —with its plot about psychics trying to plant ideas in the president’s mind–was a bit of a cross between the films “Manchurian Candidate” (1962) and “Future World” (1976), to me.

So, with the exquisitely talented British actor Richard Armitage portraying Dr. Scott White (below, shown on the phone  in an editing room still)—a perhaps deceptively bland character name–with a credible American accent, I am eager to see how he approaches the role, especially since in film noir genre nothing is what it seems to be.

Where the twists and turns of the psychological thriller film “Sleepwalker” –and Richard Armitage’s character of Dr. Scott White–will take us, is anyone’s guess.  And I am definitely looking forward to seeing the film and finding out.

 

P.S.  And then Ultra Veloce (Thanks!) giffed a rather steamy section of the trailer that is even more of an enticement to see “Sleepwalker”:

 

Well, well, well. 😳😳😳#RichardArmitage #Sleepwalker #DrScottWhite #AhnaOReilly #Sarah pic.twitter.com/LHxJOw2Jfu

— Veloce🌷 (@UltraVeloce) June 7, 2017