SLEEPING WITH A TIGER is a hybrid film about the Austrian painter Maria Lassnig. A film about her struggle in the male dominated art world and the quest to find her own personal artistic way of expression in which she brings her inner pain on canvas. And of course, a film about her great artistic success.
This Movie is a biopic within its own form. Maria Lassnig is always played by the same actress, no matter if she is 6, 14, 64 or 94 years old in the portrayed scene. There is no make up to change the appearance of the actress. She glides through the decades as an eternally identical figure. This is an artistic translation of her mental state. It is said about Maria Lassnig that she was ageless. Wise as a young girl and young at heart as an old woman. So, the theme changes from a biopic to a poetic approach as a whole to process that our soul, regardless of age, always remains the same.