Movies about actors lamenting the twilight of their career and reflecting on the past are extremely common and tend to say the same things. They all tread on the similar ground laid forth by All About Eve, commenting on aging, celebrity, and sexism in Hollywood. Oliver Assayas, the great director behind such accomplished films as Carlos, Summer Hours, and Something in the Air, doesn't really add anything new to the discussion with his most American film to date, Clouds of Sils Maria. But what he does have to say is told well, given breadth and life by the performances of Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart, who rise above Assayas' overly-manufactured production.
Divided into three chapters of varying length, the story largely centers on
the relationship between Maria Enders (Binoche), a world-renowned actress, and
her young assistant Val (Stewart). Maria had been made famous years ago when at
the age of 18 she starred in a production of Maloja Snake, playing a young
woman who sexually manipulates and uses an older woman. When the film begins
she's on the way to a ceremony honoring the play's director, a man she
considers a friend. However, he dies the night before, and Maria is convinced
to star in a remake of Maloja Snake, only this time as the much older, abused
woman. It's not something she's comfortable with for a variety of reasons,
including her co-star Jo-Ann Ellis (Chloe Grace Moretz), who will now take on
the role Maria still sees herself capable of playing. Jo-Ann is basically a
patchwork quilt of any number of TMZ regulars: Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Bynes, you
name it. She's a trouble magnet, and while Maria doesn't get the appeal, Val
likes Jo-Ann for being herself in the "antiseptic" world of
Hollywood.
It's not the only difference of opinion between Maria and Val, as their
readings of the script expose numerous insecurities and jealousies. Residing in
the Swiss Alps home of Maria's late friend, the rehearsals gradually increase
in intensity, to the point where it's hard to know where reality ends and the
fiction begins. The parallels between Maria and Val, which is closer to
friendship than boss/employee, and the play's script are obvious yet Assayas
doesn't go overboard in pounding them home. He allows the superb Binoche and
Stewart to draw those lines for us in their performances for the most part, but
occasionally his screenplay gets occupied with telling us how the characters
feel rather than showing us. It's the closest Assayas has come to an
English-language film (it's about 80% English) and sometimes you get the
impression he's still not completely familiar with the wording. While the
setting is absolutely breath-taking, especially frequent imagery of the "Maloja
Snake" clouds winding through the Alps, it doesn't hold any real
significance to the story, which wouldn't be a problem if Assayas didn't seem
so enraptured by it. Oddly edited at times, we're left baffled every time the
momentum is halted so we can watch the admittedly-gorgeous clouds rolling in
for what seems like minutes at a time. It's a little too artsy and indulgently ambiguous when clarity is probably called for. 
What will come as a surprise to many of her detractors is how easily Stewart
holds her own opposite Binoche. In fact, it can be argued her performance is
actually the better of the two, tinged with her own taste of celebrity
razzle-dazzle. But that's just it; her character is neither a celebrity nor a
thespian, she's just a young woman with very clear, intense opinions defending
contemporary celebrities and their questionable career choices. It's a great
role for her, one that allows her to put distance from her Twilight past,
while also commenting on it. And of course Binoche adds depth to Maria, a
complex woman who is at times pretentious and vulnerable, yet always strong and
willing to explore her own celebrity. Her mocking of today's studio culture of
superhero movies (there's a really lame comic book movie Moretz's character
stars in) sounds genuine and probably is. Moretz, who has never really been the
subject of sex tape rumors or had her mug shot splashed across the Internet,
doesn't get as much screen time as the others but her presence is important
throughout. As an actress quickly tumbling into Lohan territory she's
believably vain and arrogant. At two hours in length the film does sag and
Assayas can't stop from repeating his target themes over and over just to keep
things going, but the effect is stagnation during the latter chapter. The
middle section is the longest and works best as Maria and Val jockey for position
in their relationship. Binoche and Stewart have fantastic chemistry, enough to
lift a very familiar film up to the clouds.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
