Weekend movie must-see: ‘Clouds of Sils Maria’
In light of the general public’s delayed response to the ongoing (and egregious) gender issues that plague Hollywood, this weekend seems as good as any to go see a very excellent movie about actresses being meta about being actresses.
“Clouds of Sils Maria,’’ which opened to an expanded U.S. theater market this week, has already earned co-star Kristen Stewart the French equivalent of an Oscar (the César) for her role and has become a favorite among critics. (It’s more worth your time than, say, “Tomorrowland,’’ which also opens this weekend.)
The film centers on A-list film and stage actress Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche) and her surly chic American assistant, Valentine (Stewart), and their journey to the Zurich to accept an award on behalf of famed playwright Wilhelm Melchior, to whom Enders’ owes much of her success. The trip is prolonged by the surprise news that Wilhelm has died, leading to Enders’ reluctant acceptance of the older lead in a remake of the play that launched her career.
A pas de deux of a two women in an office relationship, Enders’ original role, a beautiful seductress assistant who takes advantage of her older boss’s evident depression, now goes to rising starlet, Jo-Ann Ellis (Chloë Grace Moretz).
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Enders and her Valentine prepare for the reproduction in the breathtaking (figuratively, and literally) sky-scrapping peaks of Sils Maria, southeast of Switzerland, where they balance running lines with a regular pursuit of the mysterious, unique cloud formation, the Maloja Snake. The dizzying, ever-changing, ever-exhausting landscape is matched by the back-and-forth banter of Valentine and Enders, who reads as the assistant, and one never knows where one character ends and reality begins until stage directions are uttered.
There’s much dialogue on the state of films, particularly American ones, and priorities of youth and criticism in the arts. In one extremely self-conscious moment, Valentine muses the fame-induced tribulations of Ellis, currently on a press tour for her latest role in a popular fantasy film franchise, who presents herself as an unpolished symbol of unpredictably among paparazzi, found in the midst of an infidelity scandal with a famous British actor, whose German wife is driven to attempt suicide. If this all sounds too familiar to Stewart’s own press clippings from her “Twilight’’ years, that’s because it should, and it’s quite dishy to watch her attempt to defend them from a spectator’s perspective.
Enders’ struggle to overcome the tragedy of Wilhelm’s unexpected death becomes plagued with the fear and frustration of lost relevance with age. Regardless of success and acclaim, Enders finds herself frantically Google image searching names of young faces when they’re casually dropped into conversation. When Ellis finally arrives, proving to be unexpectedly poised, professional, and strategically complimentary, Enders’ transition from the beautiful, powerful Sigrid to the desperately desolate Helena transcends the stage and into real life.
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