Clouds of Sils Marie
Die Wolken von Sils Maria
Directed by:
Olivier AssayasScreenplay:
Olivier AssayasCinematography:
Yorick Le SauxCast:
Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart, Chloë Grace Moretz, Lars Eidinger, Johnny Flynn, Hanns Zischler, Angela Winkler, Nora von Waldstätten, Brady Corbet (more)VOD (5)
Plots(1)
Clouds of Sils Maria follows the story of Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche), an actor who is asked to perform in a new production of a play that made her famous twenty years prior. However, this time she will be playing the role of a different, older character who is obsessed with a beautiful young woman (Chloë Grace Moretz). Departing to the Swiss Alps with her loyal personal assistant (Kristen Stewart), Maria begins to see life reflecting art and, like her character, cannot help but be drawn into an inexorable web of doubt and fear. Expertly staged by Olivier Assayas, Clouds of Sils Maria is a dazzlingly performed meditation on power, desire, loyalty and the passing of time. (Artificial Eye)
(more)Reviews (2)
Intellectual wordplay, elegantly filmed and acted, set in the attractive environment of film and theatre mavens’ private lives. Interwoven with the poetics of the Swiss Alps. The self-reflection of an experienced actress in her perception of the same play two decades later, from the perspective of a character on the opposite side of the story from the one she had played before. Self-reflection through dialogue, primarily during the rehearsal of dialogue scenes with an assistant, who is supposed to conceal this self-reflective context. However, there are too many of those dialogue scenes in the film to keep that context between the lines. And the potential for an exceptional festival experience gradually fades.
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If I didn't have the feeling at the end that something was missing, that I had missed something, that something wasn't said and should have been, I would give the film a higher rating, because this is truly an acting performance that is in tune with nature. The landscape is simply incredibly beautiful, and on top of that, great dialogues are happening within it that keep Kristen and Juliette's names constantly on your lips.
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