Clouds of Sils Maria
{4/5} “It’s theatre — it’s an interpretation of life. It can be truer than life itself.”
Clouds of Sils Maria, released in 2014
Maria is an actor who’s going through a divorce. She’s about to accept an award on behalf of a director she admires when she finds out that he has died. Luckily she has an assistant who helps her through everything. A young director makes her an offer — he wants to remake her very first play, but this time she would play the role of the older woman instead of the young woman.
It’s about acting, and life imitating art. The tone is similar to Birdman.
I liked the story during most of the movie, but there’s a fairly jarring and unexplained event about three quarters of the way through. It’s therefore a bit more ambiguous than I like.
There are many stunning shots of European mountains. It was filmed in Switzerland, Italy, and Germany.
Stars Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart. There’s some beautiful music by Handel and Pachelbel.
Directed by Olivier Assayas (Personal Shopper).