Clouds of Sils Maria

source: Clouds of Sils Maria

A previous reviewer found the film boring but was willing to suspend judgment because he's a young man. Alas: I'm a middle-aged woman, and I found it boring too. Binoche is as splendid as ever, Stewart would be splendid too if her mouth wasn't hanging adenoidally open most of the time. And Sils is one of my favourite places in all the world. So? The film was tantalising at first. Later, it just seemed pretentious and repetitive. Aspiring to a profundity it took pains to spell out at great length in some places, and to leave hinted at in too many others. We all get older, right? Indeed. Perspectives shift along the way? Quite. Two people can tell two different versions of the same story? You said it. And those loose ends and contradictions! ***Possible spoilers***: Why show Rosa burning manuscripts, if that's not put to good use later? Why tell us about additional scenes that show the play in a new light, if you're not going to enlighten the audience? Why have the young actress praise the older woman as the epitome of style, only to show her running around in the same whorish plateau-soled stilettos and gleaming suits the kid is so partial to, just minutes later? (At least nobody mentioned Nietzsche. That's something to be grateful for. Though perhaps the "uber-famous" Chris is an uncharacteristically oblique reference.) Last but not least: much of the film felt like a commercial. For sleek cars, for Swiss five-star hotels or for Alpine scenery. All of which I'm a sucker for, but the bits of film recognisably shot in Sils felt like postcards inserted as an afterthought. Except for the snake sequence, which would've been hard to get wrong.

Ambiguity is the key world of this film. You are the major actor in the sense that your interpretation makes the film. Each scene is so ambiguous that you can always interpret it in various manners so in the end _you_ are the director. When Maria and Val work on the text, rehearse the play, the feelings are so mingled that you are the one who decide if they are those of Helena- Sigrid or rather Maria-Val. Reality is entangled. I loved the Alps hiking shots and overall the mysterious Maloja snake. I would have rated it a 9 to the Writer-Director Olivier Assayas but reduced it to a 8 because I was disappointed in Juliette Binoche's performance. She is usually better than in this film, it is as if she didn't feel like acting this character, a bit like what happens in the film itself. At several occasions her laugh is artificial and fake. She is obviously ill at ease in this character, which proves what I wrote before about entangled reality between the film itself and the play prepared in the film. I'm not sure I am very clear but those who have seen and felt/perceived the movie as I, will understand.

I just saw the movie in the theaters. What a disappointment! And what a tedious bore of a script. Such great actresses, and the rare theme of a woman's perspective on aging, but such poverty of script to illustrate it. The theme is not exploited in a convincing manner (maybe because the Juliette Binoche character is so self-absorbed that she sounds like a cliché, and her reflection on life is limited to life in the fish bowl of the acting world) and all the peripheral characters are equally one-dimensional (look for the cartoon versions of "the hot director", "the trendy teenage actress", "the wise playwright's widow", "the chain-smoking European diva" ) Kristen Stewart, I must say, is the exception: she does a splendid job giving life to her part, and only she looked like she had a grip on reality -the realities of ordinary people who do not aspire to a theatrical career. A feat all the more admirable that of all the famous actresses cast in this story, she is the one who has had to suffer the most damage in the bubble of the celebrity circus and she could legitimately be thought as ignorant of life as a ordinary citizen. Anyhow, even the Swiss scenery does not rescue this pompous dud from boredom. The photography is far from being spectacular, and the story is simply is not interesting enough: you could cut 45 minutes of the film without losing any plot point or visual pleasure. I will add: the soundtrack choice is disappointing as well: Xerxes' "Ombra Mai Fu" and the Pachebel canon over and over. Really? Nothing more original than that? A waste of my time and money all around.

We witnessed the kinetic energy of the Oscar-winning Birdman about an aging actor making a comeback on the Broadway stage. Now with the expert and engaging Clouds of Sils Maria we witness a middle-aged actress, Maria (Juliette Binoche), contend with both her 20-year return to the same play but as the older character and the energy of a personal assistant, Valentine (Kristen Stewart), that reminds Maria of time's passage and the changes in her profession. Writer/director Olivier Assayas delights us with stunning camera work in an early sequence on the train;Hitchcock would love the camera and editing if you remember Strangers on a Train. Assayas also features the Alps with such loving cinematography you'll be booking a trip. Credit Yorick Le Saux for the editing and Marion Monnier for cinematography. The heart of an excellent drama such as this is its words, the best way to convey the complex emotions each actress must display. Besides Binoche's up-close glamour, Kristin Stewart's sassy, dark beauty is there to remind us that youth rules. The screenplay offers advice about the changing nature of dynamic dialogue: "The text is like an object. It's gonna change perspective based on where you're standing." (Valentine). In the case of Maria and Valentine, the sometimes screwball-comedy-like repartee reveals layers of perception and emotion heightened by the fact that we are witnessing the deconstruction of the acting experience: Maria holds to classical interpretation while Valentine's thesis is that spontaneity and electricity are the key components. The plot of Maria's accepting a stage role for a play she acted in 20 years ago as the young lead loosely parallels the scenario of this film (young assistant provoking the older actress) until a climactic moment on the mountain, a moment whose ambiguity will demand you complete the scene for yourself. Regardless, you will know you have seen one of the best films of the year depicting the rigorous working of the art of acting given by two of the best actresses today in film (Stewart won a Cesar for this role, Binoche won an Oscar for English Patient, and a mature Chloe Grace Moretz is sure to be Oscar nominated soon!).

Former film critic Olivier Assayas is probably one of those few people who inspire me on a creative level. Not that strange if you consider one of Assayas' own influences: anarchist and situationist Guy Debord. French intellectuals in the 1960s were, in my opinion, too often needlessly complex theoretically and parlor socialists or would-be revolutionaries politically. In contrast, Debord's refreshing anarchist views were typical for the radicality of the 1968-generation and were more about individual freedom, artistic aspirations and fighting against a new form of determinism: consumption. In that respect, Assayas' Après mai was one of the best films I've seen in years. In Clouds of Sils Maria he puts on his meta-shoes and tells the story about an older actress who'll perform in the same play she did when she was young: Juliette Binoche plays Maria Enders who plays Helena. In the meanwhile Valentine (a brilliant Kristen Stewart, who would've expected?!), the personal assistant of Maria, resembles a version of Maria when she was young. Joanne Ellis (Chloë Grace Moretz), an up-and-coming actress with the reputation of a troublemaker, is Maria's co-star in the theater play. But when the play (about a young girl (Sigrid) who seduces an older woman (Helena)) starts to reflect reality (especially because Maria used to play Sigrid herself), the film begins to get an extra - metaphorical - layer. In the end we are confronted with thoughts about time, change, fame, getting older and conflict between generations. Clouds of Sils Maria is a beautiful film with some very good acting, especially by Stewart. It also raises interesting questions about contemporary stardom and transience. Nevertheless, this movie is (feels?) less personal than Assayas' previous one and therefor misses a bit of the uppercut I was hoping for.

07-16-2015 -- I'm generally willing to watch Juliette Binoche in just about anything. (She was brilliant in "Trois couleurs: Bleu" as well as "The English Patient.") But this, despite being a film, is a very wordy play ... and then a play within that play ... and possibly another play within that play ... it got to the point where this was clearly an actors' exercise, for the benefit of actors, the audience be damned. It's a lot to ask of film audiences to simply bear witness to angsting actors and actresses, playing roles within roles. The settings and backdrops are dramatic and enticing. But the story continually falls back to the inner angst of an aging actress along with that of her personal assistant -- both her "real" personal assistant and the one in the play within the play.

This movie is a whole lot of nothing. The acting is so bad, it's painful to watch (K Stew- I'm talking to you). The only scene Stewart is tolerable in is the one when she has a cigarette in her hand, and therefore, is momentarily unable to indulge in all of her nervous ticks (i.e.- lip biting, hair adjusting, awkward breathy sighs), and is forced to actually act. She is literally the exact same person in every single thing that girl is in. I honestly do not understand how people marvel over her acting. What am I missing? Juliette Binoche on the other hand, does a fantastic job. The movie has an interesting plot with interesting characters, but it manages to make everything dull and disconnected. I feel totally gypped. I want those 2 hours back.

I really can't believe that i sat 2 hours watching this movie , the 2 out of 10 was for casting and specifically for the scene where kristen stewart was lying in bed almost half naked which appeared on the trailer, see how shallow it got !!! I literally ended up wondering what the hell was the movie talking about ... so many characters with unrelated roles , could'v gone 70 min movie instead of 2 hours, i don't really wanna sound negative but most probably the movie was voted over 6 only by writers or the Official critics because they might be relating to it !! again , away from the casting usually we should look at the movie, like what if instead of kristen stewart there was some shitty actress !!! would i watch that !! would you find a 6 on the IMDb rating !!

Look, people, European movies are just different from American films. Particularly, French movies are different; they deal with the mysteries of human existence -- growing old, looking at the future of one's profession, grieving over loss of an old friend and mentor AND a divorce at the same time. Europeans still talk; conversation is important; debate is a delight. But to do that, one has to have ideas, a vocabulary, a sense of history, some new concepts to test -- and a feeling that human beings can still be heroic and worth spending time with. All too little of this exists in the US these days. Worse, American films have been in profit-only franchise mode for years, thus poisoning the next generation by raising their adrenaline level. Paris is currently the epicenter for world cinema and with reason. By driving for money only, Hollywood has driven the public from the theaters. NOTE: SPOILERS TO COME 1. Maria's not in crises; she has a full plate. Overwhelmed, too much to do at once. Then her mentor dies, as she's traveling to pick up an award for him. Meanwhile her ex-husband is hassling her about money. 2. She trusts her assistant, Val, who seems committed to her and respects her. Being young, Val thinks it would be helpful to "bring the old girl up-to-date" with her insightful comments on movies and acting. We don't have any evidence that Val knows anything more about either than gossip and LA obsessions. But that never stopped a youngster from arguing about stuff. Maria playfully teases her back. 3. Maria would like to remain the same character she played 20 years before, when she was 18. Wild horses couldn't drag me back to 18, or 20, or 25, but it's an understandable point of view for someone who's had to adjust to being in the public eye. She doesn't really like Helena, didn't like the actress who played her, and doesn't want to end the play being left, seen as undesirable, exploited and abandoned. 4. While Maria says, "I'm not concerned about the lesbian angle in the play; I've always been straight." Well, who asked her? Clearly some sexual tension is going on here with all three women, though there's nothing from Jo-Ann to Val (Jo-Ann is as cold a little bitch as required). But Val seems to be increasingly attracted to Maria and Maria seems to be healing/opening back up within the boundaries of friendship. She also peeks at Val when she's asleep. 5. As the erotic intensity increases, Val throws up by the side of the road. Seems like the well-known old "homosexual panic" to me, wherein one realizes that one could be in love with someone of the same sex. Whoa! Where's this coming from? Me? Eventually she only has two choices, as she's already suffering. She can ask Maria for more in the relationship (and does, only to have Maria dismiss the "line" from the play and Val at the same time), or she can leave. No one wants to be imprisoned in a hopeless, heartbreaking situation where one is never going to be valued or prioritized. 6. As a French woman, Maria isn't going to get all anxious about the possibility of an affair with Val; after all, she's cut her hair and is wearing more masculine clothes to "live in the part." She also has played a young gay seducer before in the earlier play and film. Surely she would consider what an affair with a woman would be like. Val hasn't, I wager. Binoche as always is a revelation; Stewart is a little too flighty, constantly in motion, but I was impressed anyway. (Still, I wondered what Lea Seydoux would have done with Val.) Moretz didn't too much for me. I really loved this film and hope others will see it with an open heart and mind..