Jason Yu’s blend of sleepwalking and a structuralist take on marriage pushes this film to heights that otherwise seem too cumbersome. Marriage is a capitalist concept. Without the existence of the familial institution, capitalism as an economic structure is doomed for failure. Marriage needs to thrive on the perceived insecurities of the future. The emotional insecurities of a married couple bound by the social insecurities of a family structure drive Jason Yu’s “Sleep” (2023, Original title: Jam). The erstwhile systems of the correlation between marriage and a child bind social systems. The parents’ trials and tribulations to ensure a child’s safety are considered the most crucial aspect of family life.
While writing the film, Jason Yu alluded to the fact that he was about to get married in real life. Covid lockdown compounded the reason for his take on marriages or, rather, life with their partners. Various relationship problems impact humans, but what if someone has to be stuck during COVID with a sleepwalking partner? Is it horrifying? Horror is when the relationship suffers because of the need for your partner to be perfect. The film also addresses the most important aspect that has plagued marriages since time immemorial: infidelity.
Spoilers Ahead.
Sleep (2023) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
What Soo-jin Discovers About Her Husband
The film unfolds in a pretty straightforward manner. Yu has broken it in three acts. Soo-jin, played by Jung Yu-mi, and Hyeon-soo, played by Lee Sun-kyun, are newlyweds with a baby on the way. They are in love, and there is nothing that can break them apart. A wooden board on the wall says, “Together, we can overcome everything.” The film opens up to a night when Hyeon-soo is sitting stark upright, and he says, “Someone’s inside,” and falls back asleep while the expectant mother trails around the house to some noises that are nothing but harmless and door knocking about in the wind.
As the film progresses, Soo-jin discovers that her husband is awake at night. The horror continues as he scratches his face while he is asleep. Soo-jin finds innovative methods, such as putting mitts on him while sleeping so he doesn’t get the urge to scratch. He is fired from the TV show he was working on because of the accident. Soon, Soo-jin discovers that her husband sleepwalks during the night and eats raw meat and eggs. She follows him to find that he has opened the window and tried to jump off. They consult a doctor, and the couple is told about the disturbance during the REM sleep cycle. The doctor prescribes certain medicines and lifestyle changes, which is shown through a hilarious montage.
Does Yu take it too far?
The marriage experiences more trials and tribulations as Hyeon-soo soon does the unthinkable and eats the family dog on one of his sleepwalking adventures (dog lovers, please refrain from watching). Then, the narrative moves to the second act, and Soo-jin delivers a healthy baby girl. Her mother is sure that some ghost has possessed him. Moreover, as the new mother tries to grapple with motherhood, her fear of what might happen to her daughter leaves her with a cold sweat and an uncontrolled imagination for the worst.
She keeps losing her faith and turns to the occult. The occult, even though archaic, she feels it might have convincing explanations that science doesn’t. The occult aspect is interesting. It is feared, hyped, and plays with the minds of this already exhausted new mother who has barely slept in a while. She and the ghost whisperer try to rid Hyeon-soo of the ghost who has taken abode in his body. The ghost is believed to be the older man who used to live downstairs. Perhaps his spirit has latched onto him because he wants to be with her.
As the film hurtles along to its final act, Soo-jin loses her grip on reality, and she is moved to a mental institution. But once she is back, she comes to a conclusion. The older man’s daughter and her son had inherited the house downstairs, and she takes her hostage as she tries to make the ghost leave her husband’s body. She even goes on to kill the dog of her neighbor and tries to pierce her skull with a drill machine to make him leave. The film ends on a note where she sleeps off in her husband’s arms after the ghost has apparently left his body.
Is it sleepwalking or possession?
The most common question asked in any film where a condition is used to maximize the scare is, were there any evil spirits involved? Jason Yu also asks the same questions but focuses on the gradual erosion of belief in science and medicine. The doctor keeps assuring that the medicine might need some time to kick in and to treat the condition that Hyeon is experiencing, but there is no guarantee that he might be cured.
The concept of being possessed becomes much more appealing as the solution looks quick. The delayed gratification of being safe with her husband is something that Soo-jin doesn’t want. The arrival of the kid, the killing of the dog beforehand, and the hyped-up news that she consumes on the internet incite such an extreme reaction from her and her inevitable turn towards the occult. As Soo-jin hurtles towards the breakdown of her psyche, she also gets as little sleep as possible. The little sleep makes her hallucinate and dream of her baby being put in the trash can. She believes what she hears from the spirit. This drives her towards embracing the occult and rejecting scientific solutions.
How does infidelity manifest in the script?
The notion of infidelity is very old in the human society. Modern marriages are falling apart due to unfaithful partners. In this film, though, no one has been unfaithful, and they are as far removed from it as possible. The insecurity, though, plays its part—the insecurity of the director and his fear of infidelity. Infidelity does not have to be direct. There are many ways of being unfaithful.
The evil spirit latches onto Hyeon just to be with Soo-jin. When the ghost whisperer comes, she also makes a fascinating statement about how men are all the same, whether living or dead. Is this self-reflexive? Is the director trying to project his insecurities through this film? The promise that partners make to each other is that of how they will deal with any problem. But throughout the film, instead of dealing with the issue, Hyeon tries to avoid it. He suggests living in a hotel once the baby is born. He suggests sleeping in the car to help her.
Soo-jin always brings him back because she wants to solve the problem rather than having stop-gap options. When Soo-jin has completely lost the plot and she is on the verge of murdering the older man’s daughter, he finally decides to support her. Even though they are a happy couple and he is a good husband committing to his responsibilities, sometimes, doing things for your partner is not always the solution. He is not communicative about his problems and not responsive towards the solutions his wife provides. There is no physical infidelity in this film, but there is intellectual and emotional infidelity, where she had to bear the brunt of her husband’s behavior, with him being emotionally unresponsive towards hers.
Is Soo-jin to blame for everything?
A guilty mind can often be pressured into believing things that are untrue. This is the case here as well. As the occult takes over and Soo-jin slowly starts to lose her grip on reality, the narrative does point towards how it was probably one of Soo-jin’s lovers who has taken over her husband’s body. She even browses through her old lovers’ profiles to make sure if anyone is dead or not. The occult does point out that the older man wants to be with her because she is a thing of beauty.
So the whole blame, the murder of the dog, the endangerment of her newborn baby, and her husband’s life going to hell, falls on her. Even though it is not, her reaction towards the whole situation is that of a guilty mind trying to right the wrong. Right at the beginning, as she playfully smacks her husband’s cheek, he starts scratching the exact same spot only to wake up the following day and find that his face has been disfigured due to vigorous scratching. The guilty will always try to manufacture reasons to find themselves guilty. In the end, when the spirit (whether there was even a spirit) leaves his body, he mentions that he has no idea why she is with him. The spirit wanted to disfigure the husband and even kill him because she was supposedly way above his league.
Sleep (2023) Movie Ending Explained:
What Happens on the 100th Day?
The story reveals that the spirit has to leave by the 100th day. Otherwise, it won’t ever leave. It was the 100th day with only 15 minutes on the clock. Soo-jin has the drill machine slowly boring a hole in the side of the spirit’s daughter just to make the spirit leave. The spirit finally transforms and takes over her husband’s body, and he finally leaves him by opening the window, as seen on Soo-jin’s iris.
Was there actually a spirit, or was it the most incredible performance of Hyeon-soo? Hyeon-soo was a promising actor who had recently been fired from many shows because of his condition and his facial disfigurement as well. He wanted to be better for his wife and went to the sleep clinic, which diagnosed him as fully fit, but Soo-jin did not believe it. She gradually becomes obsessed with the spirit; she has made it her reality that it is the spirit residing in his body.
In his right mind, if he doesn’t act, he knows she will commit murder. Her desperation is visible in her red eyes. He might have decided to play the older man’s role even though the doctor has pronounced that he is okay. Hyeon-soo must make his wife believe that the spirit has left the body, and they have finally overcome everything together.
Is Sleep A Dissection of the Modern Marriage?
“Sleep” is a dissection of the modern marriage. It takes a pair of forceps and analyses all the modern trials and tribulations that ail a marriage. Jason Yu knows that the biggest threat to marriages nowadays is distractions. Distractions can come from various sources. It always doesn’t have to be infidelity. Are modern-day couples equipped to handle a disease such as sleepwalking, which might make their lives a living hell? So, the film is an indictment of sorts. “Sleep” has a much more nuanced understanding of marriage than Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story.”
Yu plays around with the perfect framing at the film’s beginning to indicate the couple’s happiness, then shifts the color palette throughout the film and ends it with bright red. At the center of the narrative, Yu understands marriage from a structuralist standpoint. Many social factors are at play here, and Yu doesn’t shy away from them. Soo-jin is educated, but education has nothing to do with reverting to age-old traditionalism when someone you care about is in danger. There are many contradictions, and this thriller is a brilliant example of needing to watch the film twice to understand the various elements that bind it together.
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