Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Olivier Assayas
Stars: Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart, Chloe Grace Moretz, Johnny Flynn, Brady Corbet, Hans Zischler, Angela Winkler, Lars Eidinger.
Maria Enders (played by Juliette Binoche) is a veteran actress whose career was launched years ago with a role in a play called Maloja Snake. Now a legendary film star in her own right, Enders is being asked to return to the stage in a revival of the play that made her famous. But instead of playing the role of the alluring young Sigrid, who eventually drives her boss Helen to suicide, Maria is now being asked to play the role of the older Helen. And cast in the role of Sigrid is Jo-Ann Ellis (Chloe Grace Moretz), a brash young Hollywood starlet better known for her tantrums and trashy media appearances than for a serious approach to her craft.
Enders is forced to reflect on her own career and choices as she prepares for the role. She and her loyal personal assistant Valentine (Kristen Stewart) make a long train journey to a small village in the Swiss Alps to pay her respects to the legendary playwright and director responsible for her big break two decades earlier. As Valentine and Maria dissect the play and its subtext, their diverse opinions and differing views come to represent a real life version of the dramatic tensions within the play itself.
This film is essentially a character study that concerns itself with some big ideas. It looks at actors and their egos, their vanity and insecurities, the transient nature of fame and stardom, the fear of actors losing their relevance as they grow old. It also examines the craft of acting, exploring the differences between the purity of the theatre and the world of film making, and also that cultural gap between European cinema and the Hollywood style with its excess and lack of substance. These are themes that are of interest to writer/director Olivier Assayas, a former film critic turned filmmaker himself, who also explores the gap between generations.
There is a complex and complicated relationship between Maria and Valentine, who doesn’t seem to have any personal life of her own, and the dynamic between the two provides the film with a strong focus. And the rivalry between the veteran Maria and the young Jo-Ann smacks of the classic All About Eve, although without the cynical edge and bitchiness.
Assayas draws some nice, nuanced performances from his central cast. Outside of the Twilight franchise, Stewart has often opted for more dramatic and edgier roles in films like Welcome To The Rileys and The Runaways, which have allowed her to flex her acting muscles. Here she is very good as Enders’ frustrated personal assistant who spends a lot of time massaging the star’s fragile ego. She delivers a solid and articulate performance that won her a Cesar Award (the French equivalent of the Oscar), making her the first American actress to do so.
But the film belongs to Binoche who has a penchant for playing strong and often complex female roles (The English Patient, Chocolat, etc). Here she delivers a towering and subtle performance as the self absorbed actress revisiting her own past and coming face to face with her own insecurities and failings and the loss of her youthful exuberance. Maria is a complex and emotionally demanding role that explores the female experience, and Binoche asked Assayas to create this challenging role specifically for her.
Clouds Of Sils Maria unfolds in three distinct chapters, which gives the material something of a disjointed feel. The early scenes set on a train are impressive in their staging, and seem almost to have been shot in one continuous take as the camera follows Maria and Valentine. It only really comes alive in the final act when the volatile and unpredictable Jo-Ann arrives on the scene, and her presence somehow challenges Maria’s sense of herself.
However, the film is decidedly art house in nature and will not appeal to everyone. It is a little too long and uneven in tone, and there are moments of pure self indulgence. There is some nice scenery of the Swiss Alps however, beautifully photographed by Yorick Le Saux (whose moody cinematography has enhanced films like Only Lovers Left Alive, Arbitrage, etc).
★★☆
