Review of Clouds of Sils Maria (2014) by Jack G — 18 May 2015

A simple way to put it is that it's Bergman with a dollup of Birdman, though it's easy to compare to Persona I was also reminded of the obscurer After the Rehearsal. Assayas loves film acting and really loves seeing actors acting in the acting.

in other words, it's a woman really petrified of aging, having to rehearse an older role for a play that she previously played the younger protege. Some of it does drag a little mostly in the epilogue, and it threatens to be more clever by half.

but I feel the joy and thrill of this director watching these women perform and often performing a play that makes things so meta that there are layers constantly played with psychologically speaking.

its also telling that so much of the opening and at other times phones are used so much. this is a good contrast with the sils Maria mountains and the Marjol Snake itself. if you don't like these actors and tap into the knowingly nature of show business it might not work.

but for me, it was both serious and playful, fascinated by where emotionally things might turn along with the sights and classical music sounds (punctuated sometimes by electronica).