The diamonds in SLEEPWALKING take on a highly symbolic meaning as images of luxury, material desire, and wealth. The moving image of diamonds slowly falling from the top of the screen and gradually collecting at the bottom, eventually covering the dark background and visually burying the viewer, serves as a metaphor for how our material desires have gradually turned against us. A sense of loss prevails throughout the film, as the diamonds also seem to be fragments of something once beautiful and precious but now in a process of disintegration.

The film is inspired by the opening credits of Douglas Sirk’s film Imitation of Life (1959).