Clouds Of Sils Maria | Oliver Assayas | NYFF 2014
Clouds Of Sils Maria is the latest from French director Oliver Assayas, a film that gives us a exciting and refreshing look at the world of acting, but it plays off as a beautiful spiritual journey more than anything else, giving the audience plenty to think about (and feel) long after the credits role.
Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche) is respected actress whose still getting work, but is starting to get up there in age, and it’s slowly starting to cause her self-doubt for the first time. She’s traveling to Zurich with Valentine (Kristen Stewart), her trusty personal assistant, who stays with Maria every step of the way.
Maria is on her way to honor theater director Wilhelm Melchior. Maria owes her career to being cast in both the theater and film versions of a work by Melchoir called Maloja Snake, about the relationship between a young female worker and an older female boss. At Maria’s arrival, she meets hot theater director Klaus Diesterweg (Lars Eidinger) who wants Maria to appear in his revival version of the play, only he wants her to play the role of the older woman. Just as Maria is coming around to the role, she learns that the younger role will be played be the troublesome young 19-year-old actress Jo-Ann Ellis (Chloë Grace Moretz) who can’t stay out of the tabloids. With the help of Valentine, she is eventually is persuaded to take the role in a decision that is not just based on her career, but also for her own sense of self-discovery and evaluation.
Assayas tells his story with only a select number of extended scenes that allow us more than enough time to gain insight into the characters. We spend a good chunk of time with Maria Enders and Valentine in the Melchiors’ house in Sils Maria where Maria prepares for the role with Valentine, who takes on the role of the younger worker during script reads. There’s a bit of meta work at play through this situation, with the two finding a lot of truths and similarities bleeding through to their own relationship while relating to the play. A lot is revealed about the characters to us, but also to themselves.
Chemistry between Marian Eners and Valentine are crucial, and the unexpected team of Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart get it done. Binoche is a veteran actress, offering a great performance that must hit close to home as there’s certainly bits of her own career seen in Maria Enders. This role is a revelation for Kristen Stewart, easily one of the finest performances of her career (may be her best). She is a steady force, a calming conscience of sorts for her boss. I was quite surprised and impressed by Stewart here, and hope she can continue toward this path.
Just watching Binoche and Stewart peel back the layers of their characters in conversation gave me a wistful feeling that I couldn’t quite shake. Assayas taps into something special here in the sublime and delightfully thoughtful film that will connect in a real big way to all of those lucky enough to let in.
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