Clouds of Sils Maria * * * *

Apparently there is a natural phenomenon of cloud movement  that happens in the Swiss Alps in the area of Sils Maria.   The clouds rapidly snake through the mountains and valleys in a thin line. They call it the Maloja Snake.  The Maloja Snake is also the name of a fictitious play.  

In this film  Maria, played by Juliette Binoche  is an actress who is beautiful but ageing.  She takes her craft seriously and has garnered respect for that. She rocketed to fame twenty years earlier through a play called “The Maloja Snake” in which she played the younger woman in a lesbian relationship.  The author has just passed away and  Maria has been invited to do the play again on its twentieth anniversary,  but this time playing the older woman.  After much persuasion she reluctantly accepts the role. Maria has an assistant, Valentine played by Kristen Stewart, who looks after just about everything for Maria.  She’s good at what she does including helping Maria with her rehearsal, reading the lines of the opposing character back to her.   Circumstances allow them to stay at the house of the recently deceased author of the play so Maria can rehearse and prepare for the play.  But one can’t help but notice that their relationship is not entirely dissimilar to the characters in the play and the reading of the lines only serves to emphasise this.  Tension builds between them.  It is in no way indebted to Bergman's Persona but inevitably it reminded me of it.  I think it was the two women alone in an isolated house - one a “wounded”celebrity and the other her support.

Maria learns that the director wishes to cast a popular young American actress played by Chloe Grace Mortetz in the role as the young girl in the play.  Now we move to London. The young actress is a paparazzi magnet and in many ways has quite a different approach to her “profession” than Maria.  The fact that Maria has now totally committed herself to the role gives her strength but also vulnerability; and the younger woman demonstrates she is not reluctant about brutally reminding Maria that her time has passed as their real-life association declines, reflecting the play they are acting in.  This is a fascinating drama where the lives of the three women are criss-crossed with the play, and with each other.  The performances from all three are outstanding. They are each beautifully developed characters.  Writer/Director Olivier Assayas has done a superb job with this film.  As a bonus, it is very beautiful to look at with gorgeous scenery in the Swiss Alps - including the Maloja Snake cloud phenomena.