The Sleepy Time Gal poster & wallpaper

Jacqueline Bisset, Martha Plimpton, Nick Stahl

With The Sleepy Time Gal, nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at 2001's Sundance Film Festival, Christopher Munch gave Jacqueline Bisset the same gift François Ozon gave Charlotte Rampling with ...( read more  read more... )Under the Sand--the role of a lifetime. The film is set in the 1980s, with Bisset playing Frances, writer, former DJ ("The Sleepy Time Gal"), and mother of two sons (In the Bedroom's Nick Stahl is Morgan). She's also mother to Rebecca (Martha Plimpton), who was given up for adoption--the result of an affair with Bob (Seymour Cassel) in the 1950s. When Frances is diagnosed with cancer, she decides to tie up loose ends and visits him for the first time in 30 years. Rebecca has also reached an impasse in life and decides to make a change--by seeking out her birth mother. The Sleepy Time Gal is about connections--and how the attempt to establish them can sometimes be enough. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Flixster Users

47% liked it

405 ratings

Critics

79% liked it

19 critics

R, 94 min.

Directed by: Christopher Münch

Release Date: January 1, 2001

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DVD Release Date: January 28, 2003

Stats: 22 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (22)

  • svmainus
    November 28, 2008
    svmainus
    Yeah that's what it did - made this girl sleepy. Boring unlikeable sad characters. Considering the subject matter of a woman's impending death, it should make you care quite easily for them, but with the exception of the youngest son played beautifully by Nick Stahl (which is t...( read more)he only reason I gave this 2 stars), there was nothing either enjoyable or memorable for me except for how bad it was. Skip it.
  • MECreviews
    March 21, 2008
    MECreviews
    I did not really like this movie.
  • rajivbh70
    January 20, 2008
    rajivbh70
    i really like the acting, story line and the direction. its good
  • danieljparsons
    April 18, 2007
    danieljparsons
    Sleepy Time Gal is one of those brilliant films that could only be part of American indie cinema. Frances, a mother, former writer and DJ, and lover of architecture and history, discovers she has terminal cancer, and so aims to tie up the loose ends of her life and spend t...( read more)ime with her son.

    Meanwhile, in a different city, Rebecca, unhappy with her job as a lawyer and split from her boyfriend, decides to seek out some questions to her own life, including finding her birth mother, and start afresh. The two characters stories link together in various ways as, separately, each remembers and learns more about their lives.

    Firstly, I should get some criticism out the way. This is a very lyrical film, striving for and often achieving a kind of cinematic poetry. Unfortunately, this yearning extends to the dialogue, and some of the characters have the most ridiculously over-articulate conversations, even if they're just talking about everyday things. At one point Rebecca says to someone she's recently met "I admire your pragmatism". Ok, maybe some people do speak like this, but in the context of the film it feels a little daft. The other problem is the first 20 minutes or so. Very little information is offered as to what the hell is going on, and I found myself a little 'sleepy' myself. However, this does actually (eventually) play to the films strengths, as we discover more things about the characters and previous scenes make more sense. Don't get me wrong though, this isn't a film full of major surprises or twists; it's more a film about honesty and emotion.

    So now the plusses. First of all, the acting is great - Jacqueline Bisset deservedly got lots of praise and is equalled (thankfully, otherwise the film could have fallen apart) in ability and scope by Martha Plimpton's performance. Nick Stahl is also nicely understated. The way memories are shown is very inventive, by use of black-and-white film sped up and blurred images, still photographs and paintings and camcorder footage. Finally, the photography is, at times, stunning, with beautiful location shooting in New York, Pennsylvania and Florida.

    It's a bit of a depressing film in parts, but it's also refreshingly unsentimental, instead quietly poignant, and has an ending that mixes sadness and optimism in a way I wasn't expecting.

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Critic Reviews

November 22, 2002
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Munch's screenplay is tenderly observant of his characters. He watches them as they float within the seas of their personalities. His scenes are short and often unexpected. full review

June 14, 2002
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

Its rhythms and currents sink into a viewer's consciousness and linger in the mind. full review

View more The Sleepy Time Gal reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

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