Out of comfort zone

Some time ago I saw The Clouds of Sils Maria and the film made a big impression on me. I liked Kristen Stewart, her very contemporary looks with sadness and mystique mixed in. Now, comes another film with the same actress and the reviews say that this is her best role to date. Mind you, she is only 27, so there will be more films with the label “Kristen Stewart the best ever!!”. At least I think she has got it in her. I will also follow the film director of both of the films Olivier Assayas.

                                 

Before I found out what the film is all about I decided to see not so much the film as Kristen Stewart. It was in the post hospital time and I postponed the movie going for a short while. During this time, the film lost its popularity and was screened only very late finishing after 11:00 pm.  Actually, the film was not popular at all, maybe because it was advertised as a horror film, even if it should have been more accurately described as a thriller. Neither of the descriptions enthused me to see it, but I wanted to see the young actress in her best role. While I hesitated if I should go to a horror movie so late in the day, the film stopped to be screened in my local cinema. I was determined, though, and made a brave decision to step out of my comfort zone and see the film no matter what. Of course, I am mocking myself and my set ways. As the result, I had a fun day. I travelled to Paddington to see the film, then walked to Woollahra for lunch at my favourite Polish restaurant. I did the fair bit of walking making my new smart pedometer happy. It actually complemented me on my walking achievements. My good Fitbit Alta. I think we may become friends as it talks to me nicely inviting for a stroll.

I was a bit apprehensive when the film started. The first scenes were meant to scare the viewer. Maureen, who is a personal shopper and a spiritist medium, goes to the house of her dead twin brother,Lewis, to make contact with him. One makes contacts with people on the other side in darkness, of course. I started to breathe deeply to settle my nerves, it was really scary, but everything about the scary scenes was very stylish. The whole film was stylish and I loved this aspect of it.

There are few streams in the film cleverly linked to form something like a beautiful psychological collage. The major stream is Maureen trying to get in contact with her dead brother. Then there is the personal shopper stream with Maureen buying the top fashion items for her client, the famous fashionista Kyra. Those scenes may be more for women interested in high fashion. However, I think that they may be universally appreciated for their mood and aesthetic appeal. Another stream, the trip from Paris to London on a Euro Star train builds incredible atmosphere of fear. Smart phone texting is the tool used to scare us. It does, and how! The clicking of writing the messages is better than any other soundtrack. The double question marks also work well in building the suspense. Maureen exchanges messages with an anonymous. Is it her brother, somebody meaning harm, or her other self?

Motorbike rides through Paris are great and Kristen Stewart looks fantastic in the helmet, moving through crowded streets with high speed and confidence. Energising scenes, one moves more energetically and elegantly remembering those pictures and the soundtrack.

                                      

I love the finesse of the film and the subtle links between the film elements. Like the background song by Marlene Dietrich – The Carpenter Song, DasHobellied. The song is about a carpenter whose plane is like destiny levelling all lives with the same indifference not considering importance and status. At some stage of the film we find out that Lewis, Maureen brother was a carpenter and that this profession, considered peaceful, was supportive of his heart condition. Another scene the girlfriend of Lewis lovingly smoothing a wooden element with the plane confronting us with our mortality.  Such is this film. 

Social media is another element of the film collage. There is Skype, Internet searches, text messaging, You Tube. All ways to communicate with others across the world. But do they help us to connect with others or only exchange messages?  I live in such a world myself. There is an element of loneliness in spite of those very advanced ways of making communication easy. We communicate and exchange ideas with people we do not know and never will meet. Does it matter? Perhaps not. My experience is that we may live and communicate face to face for many years with somebody never really knowing the person. We only know our internal image, we create a person the way we like it to be. So, what is the difference between anonymous and real? I perhaps went too far in my explorations, so I stop here.

The last scene of the film gives a clear answer to Maureen’s questions. The answer is given be a superpower, her brother, herself?

I need to see the film another time to discover elements I missed the first time. It will not be soon, maybe when I get myself a Netflix and a smart TV?