Monday, May 4, 2015

Review: Clouds of Sils Maria

by Mark Ahn
The Alps are not only among the most beautiful places in the world, but also contain a richly evocative presence. In film, television, and books they have come to symbolize romance, sophistication, and hidden danger, all of which surface and comingle for the characters as they linger in the Alps in Olivier Assayas’s latest, Clouds of Sils Maria.

Kristen Stewart plays Valentine, a personal assistant to global acting icon Maria Enders, played by Juliette Binoche. In the world of the movie, Maria Enders is on par with a Meryl Streep-type in terms of talent and cultural cachet, but is not above appearing in superhero movies, as mentioned in passing conversation. Maria’s fame was born through a role in a play (and subsequent movie) where she played the role of a young, calculating woman who charms, seduces, and then destroys her older female boss. Valentine sets up a meeting for Maria with a popular theater director, who wants to cast Maria in a remake of the play, but this time playing the older woman. The younger woman, the new seductress, is played by Chloe Grace Moretz.
The most layered and intriguing part of the movie is the dynamic between Maria and Valentine. They are simultaneously kindred spirits and diametrically opposed, doppelgangers but years apart, unexpected inversions of each other. Maria fills the room with her charisma and her emotional presence, but is a little jaded by the ups and downs of her life as an internationally known actor, bombarded by requests for her time and her presence. Valentine is the calm rock that anchors Maria’s life in place, taking her calls, organizing her schedule, but also sympathizing, challenging, and chastising her boss. Binoche and Stewart create a realistic, genuine relationship between these two women who have chosen to live in such close proximity, but also need the room to be their own selves. We get to see them laugh, argue, and comfort each other as they are immersed in their work, Maria with her years of experience and expertise but still needy, while Valentine is always poised, listening and observing, deliberating over her words, carefully pushing here and pulling there so her boss is always in prime condition to think about her work. It is fascinating to watch and listen, and my favorite parts of the movie were just being able to sit and listen to these two characters work and live together.

The conversations take on a different tone as they work on Maria’s lines for the new play, and the boundary between Maria’s and Valentine’s reality blurs with the fictional world of the women of the play, to the point where it is difficult to discern whether the dialogue is a genuine conversation between the two women or the lines of the play they’re rehearsing.
Juliette Binoche is the centerpiece of the movie; she’s the celestial body which determines the gravity of the galaxy around her. When she enters a room, the weight she carries with her is felt in the reactions of other people. Kristen Stewart, however, is the moon to Binoche’s sun, always within easy orbit, but always separated by an imposed distance, even at their most honest and vulnerable. I really enjoyed her character, because Valentine doesn’t allow herself to speak often, and I was impressed at Stewart’s ability to convey a history and an emotional depth with relatively little dialogue; after the movie, I missed Valentine the most.

As fascinating as Maria’s and Valentine’s relationship can be, that narrative thread could potentially just circle around infinitely. The impetus that breaks the circle is Chloe Grace Moretz’s character, who in the world of the movie, is a mash-up of younger Angelina Jolie, Scarlett Johansson, and Lindsay Lohan: a young talent who knows how to use modern media and sometimes makes questionable, but highly publicized, decisions. Her presence brings all of the fears inherent to an aging actress faced with a younger actress to the forefront, and the lines between Maria and Valentine, blurry to begin with, warp further in new directions. It is how Maria and Valentine deal with this new dynamic which ultimately influences the resolution, a resolution which in some ways is as stark and mysterious as the beautiful and treacherous setting in which it takes place.

8 comments:

  1. I had been dismissing this, largely due to Kristen Stewart, who I have ALWAYS found to be cold and aloof in her roles. I was forced to sit through the trailer this past Friday when I saw, White God, and was amazed. I became quite intrigued. Now, with your praise added in, I will have to make it out for this one.
    I even got a free pass for another film, because the projector overheated with only 7min (including credits!) remaining.

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    1. Let us know what you think after you see it. I was surprised by Stewart, really; I'd always wondered what she was really capable. I won't say this is the greatest showcase for her, but it's enjoyable. I hope people get to see this one; I know it's not the most widely available. The mountains are super beautiful on a big screen.

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  2. K Stew is probably gonna end up on my short list of favorite female performances this year. Binoche is good too, but after stuff like Certified Copy this isn't as big a surprise to me. Stewart really nailed it.

    Great review, too, by the way. You put into words a lot of thoughts I'd sorta had rattling around in my brain about this movie. I will be surprised if it doesn't make my Top 10 by year's end.

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    1. I really need to see Certified Copy. Just been sitting in my queue for months.

      Thanks for the kind words, Ghost D. The more I think about this movie, the more I like it, partially because it sort of makes me keep thinking about it.

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    2. Oh man, I love it. I would say it's my favorite movie of the decade so far, for whatever that's worth. Similar to this movie I think there's a lot going on under the surface that rewards mental poking around.

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    3. Of the decade?! That is very high praise, and makes me push it further forward in the queue. It also made me go back to my list and see what my favorite of the decade would be, and it's probably Boyhood (Inception is close behind).

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  3. I've been really excited to see this! Firstly due to Binoche but also the Moretz and Strewart but also the plot. Great review Mark I really need to see this now! Sounds inspired by Persona or All about eve, which always holds my interest.

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    1. Thanks Gabby. I haven't seen All About Eve, but it is frequently mentioned when I was reading about Clouds of Sils Maria after watching. Let us know what you think whenever you get to see it.

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