Sanctuary

The events unfold in a modern, contemporary setting centered on a high-stakes corporate world. Hal’s impending transition to CEO, following his father’s death, anchors the action in a moment of business power and family legacy. The time frame emphasizes present-day dynamics such as recordings and reputational risk that drive the confrontation between the characters.

Set inside a luxury hotel suite that serves as a private arena for the power game between Hal and Rebecca. The suite's opulence—its bathroom, safe, and room service—frames their interactions as both performance and negotiation. The surrounding hotel environment—dinners in the dining area, masked by a corporate backdrop—provides anonymity and stakes for their escalating games.

💼 Power & Control

The central dynamic is a power play: Hal as the designated CEO and Rebecca as the dominatrix orchestrating the encounters. Their interactions blur personal desire with professional leverage, turning the hotel room into a boardroom of seduction and negotiation. The pursuit of control drives escalating stakes, including threats of exposure and financial pressure.

💋 Sexuality & Manipulation

The sessions reveal how sexuality is used to exert control and extract concessions. Desire is weaponized as strategy, with the recordings and coercion ramping up the stakes. Rebecca’s motive for independence and self-actualization complicates their power dynamic.

🎭 Illusion & Performance

Both characters perform identities—domineering executive and provocative interviewer—until the lines blur. Even as they step out of role-play, the performance continues in alter-ego forms, culminating in a metafictional moment where a father’s persona is invoked. The film probes how truth can be obscured by carefully constructed personas.

🏛️ Legacy & Ambition

Hal’s status as heir to a CEO position is framed by his father’s death and management principles. Rebecca uses this legacy as leverage, challenging Hal's fitness for leadership and threatening the first-year salary, tying personal ambition to corporate power. The narrative links private domination with public expectations of succession and control.