We continue our spotlight on films screening in the New York Film Festival with Olivier Assayas's Clouds of Sils Maria, which will have its U.S. premiere at the upcoming festival, following its initial debut in Cannes. A variation on the All About Eve theme that looks primarily at the emotional and psychological effects aging has on a successful actress, the story gives an interesting peek into the private world of a star. In exploring this, it also becomes a cynical look at the business of making movies, touching upon why such narratives present a challenge for viewers. As such, it presents an ideal access point to Assayas's other work in which comparable ideas are explored—see Irma Vep (1996), for example.
Juliette Binoche plays Maria Enders, who has chosen to act in a film adaptation of Maloja Snake, the play that gave her initial fame when she was 18—but this time is asked to play the older role: a tired, middle-aged businesswoman manipulated by her young female assistant. Life imitates art, as she does have a strange relationship with her assistant, Val (played by Kristen Stewart). The opening stretch, set on a train, effectively establishes the symbiotic personal/professional relationship of Maria and Val, as the latter fields nonstop calls clearly knowing her boss so well that she can predict who/what is important and offer appropriate advice. She’s cool, confident, and low-key, where Maria is a bit neurotic. Peter Debruge observed in Variety: “All performers are superstitious to some degree, which supports those who choose to read “Sils Maria” as a ghost story of sorts. Certainly, its principal theme is the passage of time, which seems to affect actors more intensely than anyone else on Earth—especially female ones, who are typically put out to pasture early.”
Have a peek at the film below with our exclusive trailer.
Clouds of Sils Maria | Trailer | NYFF52
NYFF52 Offical Description
Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche) is a middle-aged actress who soared to stardom in her twenties in a play called Maloja Snake, in which she created the role of a ruthless young woman named Sigrid who engages in a power game with her older boss. Now an established international actress, Maria is considering the role of the older woman in a heavily promoted revival, with an infamous young superstar (Chloë Grace Moretz) as Sigrid. Maria and her savvy personal assistant (Kristen Stewart) prepare for the production at a secluded spot in the Swiss Alps, in a series of stunning scenes that are the beating heart of Olivier Assayas’s brilliant new film. What begins as a chronicle of an actress going through the paces of celebrity culture (fashion shoots, official dinners, interviews, Internet rumors) gradually develops into something more powerfully mysterious: a close meditation on time and how one comes to terms with its passage. An IFC Films release.
