Clouds of Sils Maria (2014)
February 28, 2017 8:55 PM - Subscribe

An aging actress faces uncomfortable self-reflection as she prepares to star in a revival of the play that launched her career — but this time as the older member of the central couple.

89%/64% on Rotten Tomatoes. Currently streaming on Netflix.
posted by fleacircus (3 comments total)
 
I really like two things about this movie: the first is Kristen Stewart's performance. I think if someone questioned whether she was Actually Good at acting I would point them to this movie.

The second thing is how the film walks an interesting line on whether or not Stewart's character even exists. It's not exactly a Shyamalan-level twist—she does, like, touch physical objects and engage in conversations. She's not a hologram that only Binoche can see, but I don't think it's a Fight Club thing either. There might be a real person there who struggles to be seen as a real person, but who is rendered in the film as Binoche's character seeing only a kind of different less real thing. It's both, like the idealized self of the past is someone you can have a bad relationship with, a relationship that might have to dissolve if you want to keep going forward.
posted by fleacircus at 12:29 AM on March 1, 2017 [1 favorite]


Wow I loved this, we just watched it so I'm still not exactly sure what I think. This blew me away, and I'm really just feel out of my mind here. The acting was just.out of sight, how they switch between the play and the 'truth'. The reveal at the end, the last conversation between Juliette Binoche and Chole Moritz man idk.
posted by Carillon at 11:25 PM on April 1, 2022 [1 favorite]


Wildly underrated film.

Binoche and Stewart's relationship to one another is so exquisitely well drawn : and then the moment when Val (Stewart) is no longer there and then the next act! The ambiguity is used so well - I never thought to wonder if Val even existed at all but it definitely feels like that. The middle feels like a depiction of the process of developing the character, arduous complex, and then the last third shifts our understanding of that completely.

A remarkable achievement all around.
posted by From Bklyn at 1:47 AM on March 19, 2023 [2 favorites]


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