Clouds of Sils Maria (2015)

Olivier Assays makes talky films about affluent people; but typically, they're thoughtful and interesting. 'The Clouds of Sils Maria' is, I believe, his first movie in English; and focuses on an actress, played by Juliette Binoche. She's about to revisit the play that made her name, but in a different, older role: this brings into light her own ambiguous feelings about ageing (and about the way that society views an older woman); there are also parallels between the themes of the play and her own real-life relationship with her assistant. It's very urbane, but one's sympathy for Binoche's character is limited by the fact that she is so damn spoiled - she's not especially diva-esque, but she nonetheless is surrounded at all times by a (small) entourage, though often they have their own motivations for "helping". One can wonder if her state of disquiet isn't just the by-product of being considered unusually important by others, a manufactured crisis in a pedicured life. Overall, I liked the film, though it lacks the emotional connection of Assayas's best.

The title refers to a town in Switzerland - Sils - where beautiful cloud formations hover and shift over the landscape. Our heroine Maria stays in the town while trying to sort out her feelings about a new play she is going to perform. She has come to the realization that she is no longer her "younger" self, and she does not quite understand who she is now. The title is a reference to the mental and emotional clouds that hover and shift over her or alternatively the "clouds" that she herself creates during her visit there. I will not repeat the entire plot here since every other review goes over that quite well. Suffice it to say that the older woman is Maria (Juliette Binoche), her young assistant is Valentine (Kristen Stewart), and a younger actress is JoAnn (Chloe Grace Morentz). Maria is cast in a play as an older woman who is seduced and manipulated by the younger actress, JoAnn. Since Maria once starred in the very same play in the younger part, she is at a loss how to approach playing the older woman. Her assistant Val tries to convince her that she can bring something special to the part, while Val also validates the talent and importance of the younger actress and her part. This is a formulation that Maria cannot, somehow, understand. Spoiler Alert:Val becomes increasingly frustrated that she cannot make Maria see the value of both the older and younger parts and she finally exits the movie in an abrupt and unexplained manner. This has given rise to many theories and I have my own. We can take the exit quite literally, but there is another level of interpretation to consider. In the story, I think that Val actually represents the "young" Maria, trying to tell her older self that she has gained something worthwhile through aging. Val has the qualities that Maria misses from her younger self - freedom, daring - but she has gained knowledge and wisdom that no longer allows her to "dare," since she has a firm understanding of who she is and what she can do. She actually has freedom she has earned in her career, and daring makes no sense when she has a complete understanding of her strengths and weaknesses. Val exits the movie when she realizes that she has done all she can do to make Maria aware of this. Maria is just not open to that understanding. Or perhaps she is, and Val is no longer necessary?At the very end of the film, as Maria is still trying to find her voice, she asks JoAnn to make one small change in her performance to extend some grace to Maria's character in the play. It is the same gesture that Maria made when she played the younger woman, to allow the older character to exit the scene with some dignity. JoAnn flatly refuses, mocking Maria. At that point, Maria should come to understand that the difference between them is not age, but of character. Val was right, Maria should not covet her youth but she should value her own character and experience. It is not clear whether Maria finally understands this, perhaps too late?This movie has so many layers that you may continue thinking about it for quite a while, or you may just give up. But it is a very useful contemplation of age, and all of the actresses give outstanding and very distinct performances.

Powered by two towering performances by Juliette Bincoche and Kristen Stewart, Assayas tells the story of a complex and fragile relationship between an 'older' (as in late 40s) actress and movie star. and her young assistant. But instead of getting an art house variation on "All About Eve" (and there are echoes of that classic) we get something much richer, more subtle and enigmatic about aging, art, acting, identity, youth and the complexity of relationships between women, and between employer and employee. (It's also all spectacularly well photographed).Maria (Binoche) is a respected and admired film star headed to a festival to honor the writer- director who launched her career years earlier, --casting her in a piece examining the relationship between an aggressive young woman and an older female boss who falls for her. But the mentor dies before the festival can start, and the shaken Maria is talked into returning to the seminal project of her career, but now in a London stage production where she will play the older woman, not the younger. This triggers all sorts of complex fears and emotions, so Maria retreats to the incredibly beautiful mountain home of her now dead mentor, bringing her young assistant Valentine (Stewart) with her to help her study and analyze the role. In the process the two women grow closer, and share much about themselves and their world views, each challenging, supporting and at times frightening or enraging the other.The film boldly embraces the meta nature of the tale – the relationship in the film in many ways – but far from all – mirroring the key relationship in the play. While rooted in naturalism, there is a spooky sense of ambiguity always creeping around the edges of the film, the sense that anything could happen, and in the end, nothing is tied together with a neat bow. Thankfully! There are still questions and mysteries to be pondered.The film did have a few miss-steps for me, some late turns that felt more forced than what preceded it, but but those 'problems' bothered me less on a second viewing. That's happened to me before with Assayas, as with Bergman and other film makers who deal more with the mystery of human behavior than the mechanics of plot. And the tremendously dense work between Bincoche and Stewart is wonderful. There is a sense of freedom in the performances, a terrific immediacy as the two bounce off each other like ping-pong balls, giving a sense that much of what we're seeing is semi-improvised (though I doubt that was actually the case). Seeing that loose, playful, alive style in a film that on a larger level is much more formal in it's structure and ideas creates a wonderful friction that also gives the film a powerful sense of life. And life - and the way we change as we move through is - is ultimately what the film is all about.

This is about a middle aged actress who spends in the Swiss Alps with her personal assistant while preparing for the upcoming project. During that time, she receives a news that the author of the book which was adapted for the screen 20 years ago where she play a main role and now in its remake, she's doing another part, while a young sensation playing the main part. This is more like the evolution of cinema. The 20 years is too soon for her, while the cinema and its trend advanced rapidly. Precisely to say, the commercial films and young actors taking over the art films and true artists' places respectively.If you at least 30 years old, you would get this film more than others. Because while I was growing up in the 90s, the cinema was so different. I'm not talking about the technology like computer graphics, but the story and how it was narrated for the screen. Now the science- fiction and dystopian themes taking over with the young audience and social media support. I think it was a quite meaningful film, particularly if you adore films like the recent evolution in cinema was so faster than ever.The negatives were, the film was too long, slow pace and too simple drama. The positives were, the actors and their performances, the locations, theme and some of the dialogues. Directed by a French filmmaker, this is an international project with a few guest appearances. Most of the film was set in the Alps. Totally different than what I was anticipating, but I still like, except in a few parts where I got bored for its weak development. So this is for the selected audience, that mean it will be appreciated by a very few and I'm kind of neutral with mostly in its favour.6/10