Review of Clouds of Sils Maria (2014) by Hank S — 08 May 2015

Like plays, books or paintings, films as an art form can be open to interpretation and be highly symbolic. Some moviegoers don't care for that type of cinematic experience, but for those with an open mind and an adventurous intellect, films that require a little imagination can be a rich experience that stimulates the mind and broadens the audience member's view of the world. "Clouds of Sils Maria" (R, 2:04) is such a film. Unfortunately, marketing a movie like this can be quite challenging. How do you get people interested in a movie which produces enjoyment on a more intellectual and less visual level? In this case, the filmmakers made a trailer full of scenes that actually reflect the drama of a story within the story. In other words, what you see in the trailer is not what's really happening in the movie's plot, at least, not in the literal sense. It's a little dishonest, but I understand it. While some moviegoers might consider a film like this boring, others might find fascinating, but portraying such a film's appeal, without guns, explosions or seduction (or revealing the film's secrets) in the trailer is next to impossible. So, in this review, I'm going to do what the trailer didn't do - tell you what this film is really about, but, I will refrain from doing something else the trailer didn't do - I won't spoil the film's big reveal, the moment that gives it its meaning.

French actress Juliette Binoche, known to American audiences for her roles in 2014's "Godzilla", Steve Carrell's dramedy "Dan in Real Life" (2007), co-starring with Johnny Depp in "Chocolat" (2000) and her Oscar-winning role in "The English Patient" (1996), stars as Maria Enders, a French actress known to American audiences for roles in both art-house films and big-budget blockbusters. Yes, it's a bit of art imitating life, as with Michael Keaton's award-winning turn in 2014's Best Picture Oscar Winner "Birdman, Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)". And, like that movie, this one takes a fascinating look behind the curtain at the world of theater and film and meditates on the meaning of getting older, while playing with the question of what's real and what is merely symbolic. As the story unfolds, we hear talk and see images of low hanging clouds which regularly snake through the Alps in the Maloja region of Switzerland near the village of the film's title.

Maria is in Switzerland to accept a lifetime achievement award on behalf of an old friend, the playwright and director who gave her her big break in theater. Maria is traveling with Valentine (Kristen Stewart), her personal assistant, who convinces Maria to meet with a young director (Lars Eidinger) who wants to stage a revival of "Maloja Snake", that play that made Maria famous. The play is about a young woman named Sigrid, who seduces and manipulates an insecure older woman. Maria had played Sigrid to much acclaim at the beginning of her career, but now she is being asked to play the older woman. Maria struggles with this decision because of what it says about her age, but also because her interpretation of the play is that the older woman kills herself at the end - and the actress who played her in the film version died a year after the movie came out. As Maria runs her lines and debates the play's meaning with Valentine, she gets to know the talented, but troubled scandal magnet (Chloë Grace Moretz) who has been cast as Sigrid. This film is more than a female version of "Birdman", but also has elements of the 1950 classic "Sunset Boulevard" and the French-British film "Swimming Pool" (2003).

At one point in "Clouds of Sils Maria", Maria turns down the offer of a film role saying, "it's too abstract for me," something that some moviegoers may feel about this film, although I hope not. Moviegoers more astute than I am will notice symbols and hidden messages throughout the film, but most will understand much more about what they've seen after the big reveal late in the story. And even then, much of the film is open to interpretation. As you're watching the story unfold and contemplating the meaning of it all, you'll enjoy outstanding acting from every member of the cast, especially the nuanced performance of Binoche, the emotional depth that Stewart brings to her character and the many-faceted realism from Moretz, an underappreciated young actress who seems to get better with each film. Those performances, along with the script and directing of Olivier Assayas, allow us to easily follow the action, but then to discover that the real joy of this film is thinking back on it after you've left the theater and assigning your own interpretations to what you've just experienced. "A-".