A fun feature over at Rogerebert.com, written by the regular contributors. We had all been polled about our favorite performances in 2015. The polls were tallied, and then we each were assigned one to write about. As the introduction clearly states, the list is not meant to be definitive. It is meant to be a celebration of some of the performances this year, some that might be under the radar. (I love that Emory Cohen from “Brooklyn” made the cut.)
I was assigned to write about Kristen Stewart in Clouds of Sils Maria, and it was an honor, because I love that movie so much, and I’ve always liked her, even in Twilight. She’s smart. She’s so good in Clouds.
So enjoyable to read all these year-end best ofs – it’s spurred me to watch a few movies I’d had on my list and I actually watched this a couple of nights ago (wish I’d caught it on the big screen and got the full effect of those landscapes.)
I thought KS was absolutely great – the real MVP of the film and a real joy to watch. I also thought, what an interesting role: a really smart capable, thinking, feeling young woman with a ton of ideas (all that COMPETENCE!), who manages to suggest a huge hinterland of interests and desires without having to tie her character to a love interest or involve her in some kind of plot shenanigans. It’s not exactly her film, but it also kind of is – uggh, I can’t put this very well into words. Maybe it’s because she understands the world Maria’s in now better than Maria actually does, because Maria is a bit blinkered by memory and her own set of prejudices and fears. I’m not so much sure she disappears as leaves Maria to her inevitable fate.
What I also thought was delightful was all these po-faced actors/directors/writers (all male) commandeering Maria’s attention and basically saying to her, This is what I think you are, like they’re Prof Higgins in My Friggin’ Lady. Reminded me of Carol inasmuch as that is also a film full of scenes of men barging in on women. Haynes does it more subtly that I’m suggesting, but so manyscenes reminded me of the tea-room farewell scene in Brief Encounter, except instead of Dolly Messiter interrupting it’s Some Random Man Or Other.
Clouds of Sils Maria was a great “here’s woman in all her glory/horror” movie – It reminded me most of all of Cassavetes’ “Opening Night” – we just discussed this, right?? Middle-aged actress trying to play a role foisted on her – a role that triggers a chain-reaction of denial/resistance – and sometimes the resistance is smart (the role is not well-written, she can’t sink her teeth into it) – but sometimes the resistance is just denial (she doesn’t want to grow old and lose her sexual power.) Gena Rowlands in Opening Night is so messed up with playing a middle-aged lady (even though she herself is a middle-aged lady) that she becomes haunted by this younger self.
In the end, in order for the show to go on – that younger self must be murdered – or at least made to disappear.
A middle-aged lady has to be herself in the moment, and give up any hope of ever again being young. You can’t have those regrets nipping at your heels.
So Valentine disappearing … I just love how it happens, and I love how it expands the more you think about it. It’s not a Christopher Nolan juvenile “and everything is tied up in this extremely complicated way” plot-point. It’s more a MINDSET. And Valentine is a MINDSET, and her relationship with her employer helps keep that mindset going – something Binoche needs. She needs Valentine more than Valentine needs her.
The whole thing is just so fascinating – one of the best movies of the year – and I love Stewart in it – from the very first moment you see her, haggling with that promoter on her cell phone, crunched between two railway cars.
The movie is such a two-hander. It has to be – because Binoche leans on her assistant so much. They’re PARTNERS. And Valentine is smart – and she can’t help it that she’s young and in the full experience of her sexual power – but it’s disturbing, a reminder that those days are done for Binoche.
But I loved the complexity of those three main female roles – Binoche, Stewart, and Moretz. And I LOVED that Moretz did not kow-tow to Binoche: she would do the role her own way, thankyouverymuch. Otherwise, it would have felt like a condescending pander to the middle-aged female audience. Like: don’t worry, the whole culture still reveres you!
Well, no. It doesn’t.And it’s silly to pretend the opposite. It’s silly to pretend in real-life, and it’s DEADLY to pretend when you’re an actress and trying to play a role. Because there’s nothing worse than being a bad actress. No matter how bad the role is written, you want – you NEED – to be good in it.
and even with that diminishment – Binoche triumphs in that role she has to play. Or at least finds her own way in. It’s a compromise, as she always knew it would be. It’s an acknowledgement of time passing, of losing something along the way (it happens to everyone) – but there’s a certain … joy? maybe? in a job well done. She looks at Moretz and sees her strength/smarts/balls … sees her younger self … wishes her well (as opposed to an All About Eve kind of situation). Moretz tells her to back off – and Binoche has that look on her face like, “Wow. That kind of hurt my feelings … but also, good for her!”
Maybe Valentine’s eyes are so sharp and sometimes so brutal – that Maria couldn’t do what she needed to do in the role as long as Valentine was watching.
All of the women in this movie are so fascinating – but Valentine was the one I kept thinking about after it was over. I need to see it again – I only saw it once, and that was at the New York Film Festival in 2014!! So I’m long overdue.
I’m so glad you saw it too!
Also, and finally: along with Opening Night, Clouds of Sils Maria is one of the best acting-process movies I’ve ever seen. So many films about show biz get it all wrong. Or they at least get the ACTING part of it wrong. Clouds of Sils Maria delves into script analysis, character motivation, running lines … this is what actors do – from people in community theatre to Brad Pitt. This is the job, this is what it looks like.
I really really liked that.
I’m very excited to see Mark Rylance in here. He’s enormously talented…I’ve been rewatching “Wolf Hall”, just to savor his performance.
I know, right? He’s amazing!!