Clouds of Sils Maria (2014) User Reviews

The female version of Birdman

[estebangonzalez10 · 8/10 · 27 March 2015]

"In the play you all know, Maloya Snake, he gave me everything I need to build a career on, my career."

Olivier Assayas and Juliette Binoche reunite after their previous collaboration (Summer Hours) in this wonderful meta film that has some slight similarities to Birdman. This could be the female version of that movie although not as entertaining and without all the technical achievements. It is also a little more subtle in its approach. The story begins on a train as re-known actress, Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche) is heading to Zurich with her personal assistant, Valentine (Kristen Stewart) to receive an award on behalf of a dear friend, Wilhelm Melchior, who is the reason why she is now a famous actress. Twenty years ago, he offered her the role to play the lead character in the stage and later on in the film adaptation of that play. On their way to Zurich they receive the terrible news of his passing which deeply saddens her. After the ceremony Valentine arranged a meeting with Klaus (Lars Eidinger) who wants Maria to play the older character in his adaptation of Wilhelm's novel. She continues to identify with the strong younger character and doesn't feel its correct for her to play the weaker role of Helen, but ultimately she agrees to do it. The lead character will be played by the promising young actress Jo-Ann Ellis (Chloe Grace Moretz) who has had her share of scandals with paparazzi's recently. In order to prepare for the role, Maria and Valentine travel to Wilhelm's former home in Sils Maria surrounded by the gorgeous Alps. Here, Maria is forced to reflect on her career and come to terms with the fact that she's an aging actress.

Clouds of Sils Maria is another film that reminds us that life imitates art because we are always finding ways to express ourselves and the means to do so is through art. Maria is forced to come to terms with her reality through the acceptance of this character she's not thrilled about playing because she doesn't seem to understand her. There are several scenes in which she is rehearsing the lines with Valentine that kind of blur the line between fantasy and reality. There were moments in which i didn't know if they were actually arguing or if they were simply reading the lines of the play. Those scenes were memorable and unique and I believe are at the center of this film. There are also some great conversations between the two about art and blockbuster Hollywood movies portraying the opposing two point of views. The film is rich with strong female characters exploring art and life in a rather authentic way. Clouds of Sils Maria may not be for everyone because it is slow paced and some scenes can become tedious if you aren't a patient viewer, but I found it a rewarding experience and a solid exploration of the passage of time and coming to terms with it. The classical music score (Pachelbel's Canon in D Major) also gives the film a touch of class. The scenery is also beautiful and it makes each conversation all the more profound.

Juliette Binoche has always been a wonderful actress so it comes as no surprise that she deliver yet another solid and touching performance. The real question everyone had was whether or not Kristen Stewart could hold her own next to this talented actress. The two share a lot of screen time together and at no point did I feel that Binoche was eating up the screen. Stewart gives in my opinion the best performance of her career (and I did really like her in Camp X-Ray and Still Alice) and she truly shines here. She won the Cesar (France's version of the Oscars) for best supporting screenplay and she proves that with the right material she can deliver solid roles. Chloe Grace Moretz also delivers a strong performance despite not having much screen time. She's hilarious in the scenes where Maria looks up her name on the internet and we get clips of the scandals she's been involved in. All in all, this is a solid film exploring some interesting subjects with solid performances and a beautiful landscape.

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Juliette Binoche: A career in acting...

[georges-nahas · 8/10 · 2 October 2014]

I was very glad that i attended the opening ceremony of the Beirut International Film Festival with the presence of Juliette Binoche screening this touching movie! We're talking here about a festival movie so if you're not ready for a lot of talking scenes, well this is not for you! The story itself is brought by Binoche to director Olivier Assayas about an actress at the peak of her career who is asked again to play a role in a play that made her famous years ago! Let's be clear: this movie is all about stunning performances by a great Trio of actresses Binoche, Stewart and Moretz! Everyone was so great performing the characters. Binoche made it clear that this movie talk about her career and how can it be disturbed or touched emotionally on every level when she'll reach a certain age and when new generations of actors will rise! A must see for cinema lovers and especially for professional actors!

move forward, not back

[ferguson-6 · 7/10 · 20 April 2015]

Greetings again from the darkness. Most of us don't spend much time re-living our past, and we certainly don't go through the emotional turmoil of analyzing our early lives from a different perspective. This story puts actress Maria (Juliette Binoche) in those shoes and then we watch as she fights, claws and battles her way through.

Maria is a well-respected veteran actress who has been offered a role in the revival of the play that made her a star more than 20 years earlier. The play was written by her mentor, who dies suddenly as she is on her way to visit. Hotshot director Klaus (Lars Eidinger) wants Maria for the role of the older woman, and this is difficult for Maria to accept since she played what she considers the far more interesting younger woman in the first version. Internal psychological warfare breaks out.

Maria's personal assistant Valentine (Kristen Stewart) struggles to keep Maria informed of today's world – celebrity gossip is especially key in their conversations. They also run lines together, and the parallels between the play and their real lives are so prevalent that the lines are often blurred between written word and spoken word. Things get really dicey when Jo-Ann (Chloe Grace Moretz) enters the picture as the talented, extremely popular, personally out of control actress slated to play opposite Maria in the play.

These three actresses are exceptional … yes, even you Kristen Stewart haters will be impressed. They each bring extraordinary depth to their role, and all are a bit outside of what would be considered their comfort zone. Their exchanges are fun, but what's not said is every bit as exciting and key.

Filmed in the Sils Maria area of the Alps, the landscape is beyond breathtaking. Maloja Snake is the title of the play, and it refers to the fantastic cloud formations that snake through the peaks and valleys of this marvel of nature. The scenery is a nice complement to the emotional rides each of the characters take, and writer/director Olivier Assayas ensures that we have no shortage of talking points after the film.

As beautiful a film as its Alps location.

[JohnDeSando · 28 April 2015]

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!).

Meta-cinema

[joris-nightwalker · 7/10 · 5 January 2015]

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.

Strong performances, great storyline, but...

[duduvaladares · 6/10 · 14 January 2015]

it misses the point a bit. It's that kind of film that makes you think that something great is about to come, but it fails completely at the end. Last scene, at the theatre, is completely unnecessary. Suddenly Maria and Jo-Ann changes their personalities to perform a rubbish and disconnected scene, that does not fit the story at all. It is a must see, though, because Kristen Stewart performs brilliantly, and Binocche is not bad at all. Maybe is just that feeling of frustration at the end, after you believe you chose the right film to watch, one of those rare films to remember, and then the director just looses himself. A pity.

Portrait of a woman confronting the demons of age and obsolescence.

[Mamabadger56 · 9/10 · 3 November 2014]

This was an amazing movie, to a large extent because of its lead actors. I expected Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart to make a great team, and they did; there was never a moment when I thought one of them was out-acting the other, or drawing attention from the other. They worked in perfect tandem as far as I could see.

The first thing that needs to be mentioned is the technique of telling the story in "layers." Many, if not all, scenes are on multiple levels, filled with subtext, and it all mixes effortlessly with the central story.

Binoche plays famous and respected actress Maria Enders, while Kristen plays her devoted personal assistant, Valentine. Enders is preparing to play an important role: the character of Helena, an older woman in a remake of the play in which she once starred brilliantly as the more powerful younger character, Sigrid. Valentine is helping her rehearse, and they both travel to the picturesque mountain town of Sils Maria to work on the play. That's the main "layer" and it makes a perfectly good story on its own. But in this movie, any piece of dialogue can, at the same time, refer to the characters in Enders' play; to Enders and Valentine themselves; to Binoche and Stewart; or to other actors, movies, directors, or events which are not directly mentioned in the film. Yes, even the real life actors are referenced; Olivier Assayas confirmed in an interview that in this movie, the identity of the actual actors is part of the story. It sounds as if it should be weird and confusing, but it's not; it's done very smoothly, with the main story easy to follow even while taking in the other layers of reference as if they were background music.

The basic story, which is beautifully told, is about a woman struggling to deal with ageing in a profession that doesn't always respect older women, that may consider them irrelevant. Maria Enders is also trying to be true to her art while making the necessary concessions to fame, the media, the fans, fellow actors, and critics, concessions she resents to some extent. It would be a fine story all by itself. But the added layers provide a sort of ongoing commentary on the story, that makes it much more interesting, and a little strange. Seeing obvious parallels with the lead actors' real lives is odd, but like the parallels between Maria Enders and the character she is preparing to play, it only adds depth to the story and gives us more insight into what is happening.

Maria's struggle is made worse when she meets the young, brash, gossip-ridden Hollywood actress, Joanne Ellis (Chloe Grace Moretz), who is to take on the role of Sigrid. Joanne is smart, fearless, and media-savvy. At their first meeting she flatters Maria and claims to be an admirer, but may simply be feigning respect. Maria is easy to sympathize with when she looks into Joanne's background and sees that the rising star displacing her is a crude, grandstanding girl who manipulates the system to her advantage, and who acts in ridiculous sci-fi drivel.

Gradually, the difficult relationship between the characters in Enders' play becomes blurred and overlapped with Enders' relationship with Valentine, each relationship providing commentary on the other. It is interesting to watch Binoche simultaneously rehearsing a scene in which her character, Helena, has a confrontation with Sigrid, and in subtext confronting Valentine. It gradually becomes unclear whether she is Helena addressing Sigrid, or Maria addressing Valentine, because it becomes both at once.

Maria's conflicts over becoming obsolete in the field where she's excelled, and by extension possibly in her life, causes ongoing friction with Valentine, who tries to help her and encourage her to change her perspective. Finally, in a brief surreal moment, Maria, it is implied, manages to take on Valentine's perspective and her confidence. As Valentine tries to express at one point, Helena and Sigrid are really the same character; by extension, so are Maria and the young, pragmatic, fearless Valentine. Ultimately these opposites are reconciled, the conflicting layers are brought together, and Maria is able to accept her new reality and move on. It's not necessarily a happy ending, in terms of Maria's diminishing professional range, but it is a satisfying one.

This is an enjoyable, well written and well acted, serious and yet consistently entertaining movie from beginning to end.

Good acting, but could have used a tighter script

[zetes · 7/10 · 5 January 2016]

Juliette Binoche stars as a middle-aged actress who agrees to star again in the play that made her famous at 18 - this time playing the older woman in a lesbian relationship. In the play, the older woman is seduced and abandoned by the younger woman (to be played by Chloe Moretz, a bratty Hollywood star, in the upcoming play), and commits suicide because of it. With her career fading and the abyss ahead, Binoche is understandably nervous that the role reflects her own life too much. The bulk of the film is actually the relationship between Binoche and her assistant (Kristen Stewart), who walks the line between being her employee and her best friend. Stewart is kind of tasked with challenging Binoche, but, as a famous actress and as her employer, neither of them is sure Binoche really wants to or should be challenged. The film is certainly rich and interesting, but it's also a bit lethargic and maybe a bit too vague as well. It could really have stood to be more focused, because there's a lot of little plot points around the corner that distract from the main themes. Binoche is good, as always, though I wouldn't put this up there with her best work. Stewart has received the bulk of the praise. Indeed, she is good, but I think the vast praise she has received is more a case of "Wow the chick from Twilight really can act!" If you saw Adventureland, you know she's not really a bad actress. This is probably her best role, but it's nothing award-worthy.

Strong, provocative, intelligent work of art (not for everyone)

[petrelet · 9/10 · 18 April 2015]

If you are a big fan of Magritte and Escher, of the writer Sebald, of Pirandello and Philip Glass and maybe the film "Koyaanisqatsi", I predict that you will love this film. If, on the other hand, you can't see the point of any of these and believe only in Aristotle's six elements of drama, there are many other excellent films you will like much better. It's a matter of taste.

In this film, writer/director Assayas deliberately blurs the distinctions between a number of levels. You start with people in the business of theatre and film: Marie Enders (Binoche), an experienced and celebrated actress, and Valentine (Stewart), her young, busy, competent personal assistant, and the people in Marie's past, living and dead.

Then there is the level of the characters in the play "The Maloja Snake" of twenty years ago, when Marie played the young and cruel Sigrid who loved and crushed her middle-aged employer, Helena. There is the level of the characters of the same play today, in which director Klaus Diesterweg (Lars Eidinger) hopes to recruit Marie to play Helena, possibly with a different take on the characters' motives and psychology, and in which Jo-Ann Ellis (Moritz) is eventually cast as Sigrid.

And there is also the level of the real human world, including events in the life of the real Kristen Stewart, which have striking parallels in the life of the fictional Ellis; the same seems to be true of Binoche and Enders, and I have read that "The Maloja Snake" is a parallel world version of Fassbinder's "The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant".

Spanning all these levels are the the real Switzerland and its real mountains and clouds, including the real Maloja Snake, a cloud phenomenon which was the subject of a black-and-white short film in the 1920's which is excerpted in Assayas' film and which can be seen on YouTube. The Internet spans all these levels too, and all the characters in the film are busy with texting and Skyping and Googling and checking out and fixing their IMDb info.

And then the work of playing characters, of determining and managing emotions, of arguing about what really motivates real or fictional or play-within-a-play fictional characters, either within the industry of the creative arts or not, also bridges the levels. We are constantly aware of the analogies and reflections among Valentine - Maria, Sigrid - Helena, Jo-Ann - Maria, and so on. Readings of lines take place, in which you sometimes wonder what level you are on, and we see a lot of the details of the creative discussions which must go into the production of plays or for that matter, not incidentally, movies such as "Clouds of Sils Maria". If you get lazy and suspend your disbelief and allow yourself to mentally presume that "Clouds" is a comprehensible narrative of the real world, Assayas will bring you up short without any ceremony.

So, does that kind of thing strike you as artistically intriguing or intellectually exciting? If it does, see the movie. It will give you a lot to think about and appreciate and puzzle about and discuss afterward. (The Swiss tourist board will thank you also.) If it seems a bit dry and abstract, well, you are fairly warned.

Slightly overegged Swiss fondue

[percyporcelain · 7/10 · 9 October 2016]

As beautiful as this movie is to look at, I found it a little over- complicated with too many confusing sub-plots, several of which are aborted. Early on, it looks like the presence of an old flame on-set is going to be a major issue for Binoche, but that melts away. It looks like her relationship with the young actress playing the lead is going to be an issue, but that only leads to one minor spat near the end. Her PA rehearses scenes with her in a way that implies some sort of Sapphic love, but this evaporates too (except perhaps in the mysterious nauseous episode). Plenty to mull over. But fabulous scenery, esp. the breathtaking 'Snake' of cloud, and great performances from both Binoche (more animated than ever before) and Stewart.

Cloudy with a Chance

[sol- · 5/10 · 13 May 2017]

Rehearsing for a revival of the play that made her famous proves unexpectedly challenging for an esteemed actress in this French drama starring Juliette Binoche. While she knows all the dialogue, the difficulty is being asked to the play the older of the two protagonists (a la Michael Caine assuming the Laurence Olivier role in the remake of 'Sleuth'). Further tensions arise as the older protagonist is manipulated by the younger one in the play with Binoche wondering how close she may be to the older character. Fascinating as all this might sound, the film is nevertheless hard to get through at times with the plot not really taking off until 40 minutes in when Binoche views online clips of her bratty co-star to-be and tries to rehearse knowing what her co-star is like. At its best, the film blurs reality as Binoche and her personal assistant practise with it often ambiguous whether the pair are really fighting or simply rehearsing. There are also some memorable bits as the pair discuss whether science fiction dramas can have merit and the notion that "thinking about a text is different to living it", but these sparks unfortunately fizzle out before the film is over. As others have observed, the movie has a curious meta quality with Binoche playing an actress character very similar to herself, but the protracted first forty and final fifteen minutes oddly leads the film succeeding best in its middle section.

Ambiguity

[cyberalpine · 8/10 · 28 December 2016]

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.

A splendid acting work in overall

[Seraphion · 7/10 · 27 April 2015]

The movie didn't present a story that's easy to relate to for most viewers. I think even for movie enthusiasts the core story doesn't really click into their minds. It also doesn't get presented well enough at the opening stages. The movie builds the characters well enough at the early stages then starts to present the core story and letting the main conflict seeps in into the whole bigger picture. Thus this movie feels so very slow that it kind of bored me to the first hour or so. But the acting work is very much a splendid job in overall. The three main cast did their parts very greatly immersing in their own respective characters and depicting the right emotions and mannerisms. Julieete Binoche being with the most screen time here did great in exploring her character and her character's anxieties. Kristen Stewart did also very well to develop herself past Twilight movies. She adequately balances Binoche in their dialog parts. Chloe Grace Moretz did a great job in depicting the rebellious star, and she did great to portray a huge difference between the hangover press conference scene and the crucial hiding from paparazzi scene.

Clearly an actors' exercise

[lcsterling · 4/10 · 16 July 2015]

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.

For me, better than "Birdman"

[rogerdarlington · 28 May 2015]

The enigmatic title refers to both a climatic phenomenon called the "Maloja snake", which occurs in the Engadinean alpine pass in Switzerland, and to a village at one end of a local lake. The village is the home of an elderly playwright who much earlier wrote a work called "The Maloja Snake" about the complicated relationship between a young woman in her late teens (Sigrid) and her middle-aged female employer (Helena). The film is all about the re staging of this play in which actress Maria who originally took the younger role to great acclaim has now been invited to portray the older woman in the new interpretation.

It is unusual, but a pleasing change, for a film to have all its leading roles taken by women. Superb French actress Juliette Binoche, whom I have admired since her early English-language work ("Damage" and "The English Patient"), is Maria, struggling to come to terms with her different role in the play. American actress Kristen Stewart is excellent in the secondary role as Maria's personal assistant Valentine and so different from her "Twilight" movies. The third role is taken by another young American, Chloë Grace Moretz, who is the actress taking over as Sigrid in the play - again a very different persona from the one we have seen before in the "Kick-Ass" movies.

This is a wordy work but the words matter. At times, we are not sure if the interaction between the two main personages is between Helena and Sigrid or between Maria and Valentine and even between Binoche and Stewart. In truth, there are elements of all three which is how subtle and nuanced is this German-French-Swiss co-production written and directed by the French Olivier Assayas. Ultimately this is a film, like near contemporary "Birdman", about acting but, however much the American Academy may have feted "Birdman", I found "Clouds Of Sils Maria" much more intelligible and engaging.

O.k.

[dulcebeat909 · 6/10 · 10 February 2015]

I really had high hopes for this film. The film was cliché and a bit slow. Though on the positive notes, Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stweart were quite brilliant in the film. The relationship between them felt so real that when they began to laugh at things involving their current circumstances I literally laughed out to loud with them. I was more blown away by Kristen Stweart. She was incredible in this film. I don't know too much of her filmography other than she was part the Twilight Saga...which is a bit corny in my taste but these are the type of films she is made for. Juliette Binoche was incredible too but that is a given. As for Chloe Grace, her acting was a bit more on the amateur level. I feel with Chloe its always a hit or miss with the roles she plays in her films. Overall it was an O.K. movie.

Another worthy addition to Stewart's career

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 20 January 2015]

"Clouds of Sils Maria" was written and directed by Frenchman Olivier Assayas shortly before his 60th birthday. I would say as a whole I slightly preferred his last work "Après mai", but his newest achievement is still pretty good and worth a watch. Juliette Binoche delivers a convincing performance as an aging actress and Kristen Stewart plays her assistant. Stewart was the MVP of the film for me and I clearly felt something was missing the moment she disappeared near the end. So I guess I am not glad she died during a car crash or something earlier in the film.

There is lots of irony in this film. The way Stewart speaks about Moretz' character it seems she is almost talking about herself in real life. There are quite a few parallels. Also the perception of the film Moretz' character plays in is interesting. For some it is trash, for some it is a masterpiece, but it's definitely incredibly successful at the box office, just like the Twilight films. And then there is of course that hilarious werewolf quote. I won't go further into detail. If you know a bit about Stewart's rise (and fall) in the last 5 years, you will see more than a few parallels. Moretz here plays a character who reminded me a bit of the role she played on the TV show "30 Rock", a young girl who seems delightful and gentle, but is actually a manipulative beast.

The film was solid from start to finish, occasionally great and I also enjoyed the ending with the young film-maker who approaches Binoche's character and expresses that he is not interested in a movie industry filled with people like Chloe Moretz in this movie. However, I would not have minded either to see the actual premiere of the play. One thing I did not like that much was how Stewart's character perceived Binoche's character to treat her so bad. In many scenes the two seemed much more like friends to me (maybe even more) than just colleagues. One interesting scene is when one of them goes swimming naked and the other leaves on her underwear. Also the two also were a bit critical of the other, which is usually not the worst either and much better than when they were constantly lying to each other and just say the things the other wants to hear.

This film also has some comedy moments, like when Binoche's character realizes she has a seat next to Zischler's character. That was one interesting couple anyway and the fact that she gives him her number later on makes me think that things probably were not exactly the way Binoche's character tells Stewart's character about her past with Zischler's character. Anyway, it was great to see Kristen Stewart shine in this film and be on par with a truly experienced actress and Academy Award winner like Juliette Binoche. She turned a fairly uninteresting assistant character into the best thing about this movie. So much charisma and expression in her scenes. Moretz's part was kinda showy, but I personally was not too impressed. I usually like her, but I felt her role was much more interesting when we only hear about it from newspaper snippets or online videos than when she actually enters the picture.

Back to Binoche, she plays a character who played a young woman in a play years ago and profited from the lack of talent of her female counterpart. Now she has aged and is instructed to play the older character with a young actress playing the girl again. How can she deal with this responsibility? Will things go again the way that the new starlet shines and the older actress is just means to the younger one's success? Find out yourself and go see this Palme D'Or nominee. You probably won't regret it. It's a decent movie, visually pretty nice as well, even if the actual Maloja Snake near the end did not impress me as much as I hoped it would. If there is anything negative about it, then maybe that almost all the male characters were kinda forgettable, but I guess that's okay as it's a very female centered movie. Certainly worth a watch.

No "action"?

[kvc2 · 9/10 · 1 June 2015]

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..

A great lead but

[r96sk · 6/10 · 14 April 2020]

A film that tries too hard.

'Clouds of Sils Maria' is one of those productions that attempts to be artsy and impactful, by making everything look and feel great. By doing so, it almost forgets to join it all together in order to solidify the plot.

I don't hate this by any means, it simply does too much. There's numerous narratives here which just end, without clearer explanation. That does, I guess, leave it to the viewer to interpret on their own, which is good though not when it's every important path in the film.

Juliette Binoche is excellent as Maria, her performance definitely carries things and she improves all those around her. Kristen Stewart is the 'best of the rest', but she always (to me, anyway) feels out of place in this world.

It shows off some stunning shots of the Swiss municipality, has a great lead but ultimately fails to strike a chord with me unfortunately.

Superior character study, open to many interpretations

[bandw · 10/10 · 27 July 2015]

This movie focuses on the relationship between two women, one a famous actress approaching middle age and the other her young personal assistant. The story plays out on three levels. First there is the relationship between Maria, the famous actress, and Valentine, Maria's young personal assistant. Second there are the women in a play that Maria is rehearsing, with Val reading one of the parts. Thirdly there is the relationship between the real life actors, Juliette Binoche as Maria and Kristen Stewart as Valentine.

The generation gap between Maria and Val is a major theme. Maria almost takes pride in her disregard for the world that Val knows. On many occasions Val will mention a name of some famous actress or writer and Maria will admit to never having heard of them. At first it seems that Val is able to handle this with some humor, but it comes to be more and more of a frustration for her and she finds it hard not to take Maria's disdain for the younger culture as a personal insult. This hit home for me in that I had not known of Stewart before having seen her here; I have come to understand that she is famous in her own right.

The relationship between the women in the play mimics that between Maria and Val to the point that it is sometimes hard to determine if, in rehearsing the play, it is the women in the play conversing, or actually Maria and Val. Not to be ignored is that Binoche and Stewart themselves fit the circumstances of Maria and Val.

Trying to figure out what's going on between Maria and Val was what kept my interest. At some points I thought that Maria might be developing a strong attachment to Val, even perhaps sexual. There are several scenes that imply this. For example when Val takes off from the house that the two women are sharing Maria quickly runs upstairs to watch the car as Val drives off. At another point Maria looks in with intensity to a scantily clad Val as she sleeps. Toward the end when Val tells Maria that things are not working for her, Maria tells Val not to leave, and when Val says she will, Maria says, "Please stay. I need you" and then goes over to hug Val.

Val's feelings for Maria are even more ambiguous. She clearly admires Maria, but there is more there. When Maria is on stage to give a talk Val is in the wings smiling and saying, "Go get 'em Tiger." There is a scene that has a scantily clad Val swimming with a naked Maria. The two are having more fun than I would expect an actor and her assistant to have. When Maria hugs Val after pleading with her to stay, Val responds but then backs off in a confused emotional state. There are hints that Val may have lesbian tendencies. When Val says she is going to meet a male friend Maria asks, "Are you involved with him? I mean, is this a thing now? I'm thrilled that you have a boyfriend, there haven't been that many. And when there is one, you burn through him pretty fast." It would be unusual for a woman as attractive as Val not to have many boyfriends. Then there is the mysterious scene where Val is driving on curvy roads in the mountains in a fog and then stops, gets out of the car, and vomits. Is she sick from the curvy roads, or is she having an emotional breakdown, realizing that things are not all that well between her and Maria?

And what is to be made of the sexual elements of the two women in the play that Maria is rehearsing as it might imply something between Val and Maria? Trying to figure out the complex relationship between Val and Maria is confounding. I guess it is what it is and it's a mistake to over-analyze it, but the ambiguities enticed me to figure it out.

As you would expect, Juliette Binoche stands out in this role. I admire her for taking it on, since the portrait of Maria is not completely flattering and the parallels to Binoche's own life are clear. Appearing without makeup on occasion, as she does, strikes me as the mark of a confident actress. Binoche is also up against a young actress who more than holds her own. In fact I was quite taken with Stewart's performance.

There is occasional humorous relief. Val reads some of the offers that Maria is getting, noting that "there's a Spanish horror flick, it's pretty gory, you'd be playing a Mother Superior. There are werewolves involved for whatever reason." There is a magazine offer to do a story on successful aging that gets a resounding "no" from Maria--this is a sensitive issue for her, in commenting on a line that one of the characters has in the play she is rehearsing she says, "Time's gone by and she can't accept it. Me neither, I guess." After meeting with a future co-star and her boyfriend Maria remarks on how she liked them and how nice they were. Val comments that of course Maria would like them, since they spent the whole evening flattering her.

In spite of Maria's ambivalence about technology it's interesting to see what a role that plays in her life, from essential cell phones, to tablet computers, skype, google, GPS, etc.

The significance of the title "Clouds of Sils Maria" is up for debate, but it is an unfortunate, uninviting title. When I have recommended this movie to friends none has been able to remember the title without asking me again. A title like "A Generation Gap" would have encouraged more people to see this well-acted examination of ambiguities in human relationships.

I went in expecting something a little better

[UsernameHype · 6/10 · 11 December 2015]

The story was all over the place at points and left questions unanswered at others. It began to lose my interest because the story felt like it was beginning to drag on near the middle.

The acting was great at points, but sometimes actors, who should have been the focus, were overshadowed by others on screen. This led to some dis conjunction in scenes. Juliette Binoche was amazing as always, Kristen Stewart impressed me, and Chloë Grace Moretz still has some growing to do. There were some great scenes with all of them, but by that time the movie began to bore me.

The cinematography was pretty good. The landscape, night and indoor shots were very nice and eye appealing. There are segments in the movie where they show clouds flowing throughout the mountains and it is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. The movie is worth a watch just to see those segments.

Clouds of Sils Maria was okay. I expected something better with the cast behind it, and I was underwhelmed at the end. My suggestion would be to go into the movie with lower expectations and then you may like it more than I did. This movie isn't for everyone, but people who like great dialogue and character development may love this movie.

Nice Clouds, Poop Movie

[taylor_king-890-815491 · 2/10 · 1 May 2015]

This movie was a huge disappointment in every way except seeing the clouds snake through the mountains in Switzerland. We went to see the film because of Juliette Binoche, lead actress, who we have seen in other films (most notably "Chocolat" and "English Patient") and found her performances to be memorable. The film was promoted with the theme of an aging actress dealing with her demons, but it never delivered on that score. And with an 124-minute run time, they could have explored her character more. We hear a little about.her impending divorce, her failed relationships with men in her industry, disillusionment about aging, and her drinking. All obvious demons, but none of them explored enough to allow her to emote and make me care about her. Instead, the story focuses exclusively on her conflict on performing as the "older woman" in a play she did 20 years before when she was the "younger woman". This theme is developed through her relationship with her personal assistant, played by Kristen Stewart, who, as a much younger woman, challenges her views in a dispassionate way. In that context, the two drink, smoke, "eff" a lot, and generally look and act more like men than women. But, amazingly, with all the obvious lesbian tension going on between them, this is never explored, and the film just fizzles out without acknowledging what it seemed to be about! I have read that Binoche liked the idea of this film and asked to have it produced, but unfortunately, they didn't take the time or have the gifts to make it a good film. I have to especially "ding" the editing, there were so many scenes where things just "jumped-cut" and were jarring. And Binoche's over-the-top laugh in many scenes were like "why are you laughing, huh?"

One of the most intelligent films of recent years

[themadmovieman · 8/10 · 2 December 2015]

This is a seriously clever film, with an almost watertight screenplay that keeps you completely engrossed from start to finish and some mesmerising central performances. It is a bit harder to unlock than more mainstream movies, but it provides a hugely satisfying and intriguing discussion when it comes to the end.

Unlike most Hollywood takes on the state of show business and celebrities in the modern world, which is more often than not pretty depressing (take recent films like Birdman and Maps To The Stars), this European film has a much more elegant atmosphere to it whilst it delves into the world of this ageing actress struggling to keep her cool under a lot of pressure.

The film has some absolutely fascinating insights into the world of show business. It looks at jealousy and media pressure on older actresses, whilst also putting across an ironic, satirical poke at the pretentiousness that so many of us have been guilty of with regards to art. There's a lot of talk in this film about reading into films perhaps more than they need to be, but also how more mainstream movies sometimes don't get the deeper recognition they deserve from elitist viewers because of their reputation, which I found absolutely enthralling to watch unfold.

Also, there are some very clever parallels between the relationship between the two main characters, this actress (Juliette Binoche) and her personal assistant (Kristen Stewart), and the characters in the play that they are rehearsing for. It seemed to me that the parallels were pretty deliberate, given that it was almost impossible to tell whether the two were rehearsing or talking to each other for real during the practice scenes, which I thought was a brilliant little touch that really helped to emphasise the confusion and deeper trouble that the characters were facing in the story.

Beyond that, there's so much more to think about in the plot, and I'm sure it requires multiple viewings to fully understand, but it's still a hugely captivating drama first time off anyway, which is absolutely brilliant to see.

Away from the story, the performances here are pretty fantastic too. Juliette Binoche perfectly captures her character's sense of confusion and loss as she goes through this time in her life, whilst also making her a recognisably snooty and diva-ish person that you can understand much clearer. Meanwhile, Kristen Stewart is excellent as the personal assistant, who tries hard to get to her employer, but often ends up feeling frustrated, and makes her character just as interesting, even if she is a side-player in the grand scheme of things.

Another point on the performances is that everyone, not only Binoche and Stewart, deliver their lines so brilliantly. It seems a pretty trivial thing to say, but in this film, I noticed what proper dialogue delivery sounds like so much more than anything else I've seen; every word was so clear and crisp, with fantastic emotion behind it, and that was just wonderfully impressive to witness for me.

Bright acting, hazy story

[Sir_AmirSyarif · 7/10 · 26 July 2020]

While the script by director Olivier Assayas is a radically mixed bag - it's generally effective when the film focuses on the characters but falls apart when dealing with the play-within-a-film, 'Clouds of Sils Maria' features magnificent performances from its female leads, Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart, and Chloë Grace Moretz, to keep the story moving and lively. The film is a fine showcase for the actresses and they are luminous in their roles.

Pretentious self-indulging and boring

[tuco73 · 3/10 · 24 May 2015]

Yes, I do like Pirandello, Escher, Magritte, Philip Glass.... but surely not this pretentious nonsense movie. It is a very well shot and acted one, and Switzerland looks very nice, sometimes the movie seems to be almost a touristic advert to the natural beauties of that region. The main problem is the intellectually wanna-be-smart story, filled with weak parallels between fiction and reality, emotions shown and hidden, reality and game. Not only this kind of theme has been already told in great movies and works of art, but this time the whole thing appears to be leading nowhere and meaning nothing, making it another quite boring, very long, pretentious self indulging French movie (they seem to be very good at it). Ah, and the unnecessary nudity is Art obviously, how could I not get it? Avoid it.