I really enjoyed "Clouds of Sils Maria" and so I had to watch this one, too. It was screened during the "French movie week" in Berlin and so I got lucky to see it before January.
"Personal Shopper" starts out as a kind of a ghost story. A dark old building, the main protagonist - Maureen, portrayed by Stewart - is alone, you hear steps and movement, creaking doors and so on. All the classic elements. Almost cliché. For the first 30 minutes it is nearly impossible to get the direction of the film, but in a good way. The pace is slow, there isn't that much of dialogue. Stewart basically carries it alone and she is brilliant the whole time.
I don't want to give away to much, so I just say that things start to evolve. Assayas throws bits of back story on the audience. Tells about Maureen and her brother, her work and her boss, but also about mediums, ghosts, souls of the dead etc. Throughout the movie different characters voice their opinion about belief and disbelief in spiritualism. The good thing is, it does not matter to which group you belong to enjoy what you see.
After a certain point the pace and the suspense grows with every minute, the plot takes directions I had never expected and when the credits rolled I was blown away. I guess this is the kind of movie that people either love or hate. If you are looking for a strong plot, a clear message, people actually talking to each other, this movie might not fill your needs. What you get is a strong performance of Stewart and a lot of uncertainty and confusion told in an amazing way by Assayas.
"Personal Shopper" starts out as a kind of a ghost story. A dark old building, the main protagonist - Maureen, portrayed by Stewart - is alone, you hear steps and movement, creaking doors and so on. All the classic elements. Almost cliché. For the first 30 minutes it is nearly impossible to get the direction of the film, but in a good way. The pace is slow, there isn't that much of dialogue. Stewart basically carries it alone and she is brilliant the whole time.
I don't want to give away to much, so I just say that things start to evolve. Assayas throws bits of back story on the audience. Tells about Maureen and her brother, her work and her boss, but also about mediums, ghosts, souls of the dead etc. Throughout the movie different characters voice their opinion about belief and disbelief in spiritualism. The good thing is, it does not matter to which group you belong to enjoy what you see.
After a certain point the pace and the suspense grows with every minute, the plot takes directions I had never expected and when the credits rolled I was blown away. I guess this is the kind of movie that people either love or hate. If you are looking for a strong plot, a clear message, people actually talking to each other, this movie might not fill your needs. What you get is a strong performance of Stewart and a lot of uncertainty and confusion told in an amazing way by Assayas.