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?  

Clouds of Sils Maria

Yesterday I saw Clouds of Sils Maria. Interesting and confusing experience. It was my selection of the movie, I suggested it to a friend believing that the film will tell us a conventional  story about actresses. There was nothing conventional about the film, it was not even American which, for some reason, I had expected. Instead it was French-German-Swiss co-production directed by Olivier Assayas, a French director  unknown to me until yesterday. There are definitely too few French films shown in Sydney or I have missed too many of good films in recent years.

During the film I felt very uncomfortable for a couple of reasons. There was so much I found confusing, the story seemed disjointed, events did not follow logical sequence and some mysteries were left without any explanation. I simply did not understand what it was all about. The second reason was that I felt responsible for suggesting such a weird film. And strangely, I was fascinated by the rapid changes of languages spoken, jumps of the action from one stream of thought to another, captivating, wonderful performances of Juliette Binoche and Kristen  Stewart. The third  actress Chloe Grace Moretz did not make much of an impression on me.

                         

The story is about Maria Enders, an acclaimed actress at the peak of her career played by Juliette Binoche. She is offered a role in a play that propelled her career twenty years earlier. Only this time she is to play an older woman. Her old role will be played by a very young actress. To rehearse the role Maria goes to the Alps with her personal assistant Valentine. The interplay between the two actresses is unbelievable and whimsical, the reality is mixed with scenes from the play in such a way that it is not clear what we are watching. This ambiguity has been intended. The personas of the two women intermingle at times. No wonder that at first I was unsettled and no wonder that I was fascinated without being prepared to watch this type of the film. It reminded me of Ingmar Bergman’s films and some scenes between Maria and Valentine of his Persona. Not a light stuff I had expected.

Sils Maria lies in Switzerland, it is absolutely beautiful and I would love to be able to go there one day and see the snake formed by clouds moving between high mountains. I found out that  my recent object of fascination, Herman Hesse, used to spend some of his time there. I did know that he lived in Switzerland for most of his life and that he loved mountain hikes. The film shows the Alps so beautifully and many times that now, I know what he saw during his mountain walks. Apparently Carl Jung and Einstein visited the place as well.

                                   

While, originally, I wanted to see the film as I love Juliette Binoche as an actress, Kristen Stewart was the main attraction for me. When she first appeared in the film, I thought that she is very much like my niece Martyna. The same mannerisms, similar tone of voice, speed of talking and age. That make me perhaps less objective, but I am not sure about it. She got a Cesar for this role and this is France’s highest ac    

This my niece

        

and this is Kristen Stewart, I see similarities. Am I biased?

I was puzzled by the film,  taken somewhere where I did not expect to be and I am so glad that I saw the film. Shall I go and see it again, fully knowing what kind of a film I will be watching?

 I agree with Vanity Fair  that this is “A thoughtful and intelligent meditation on acting, fame and age” .