Review of Clouds of Sils Maria (2014) by Fungusgnat — 27 Jul 2015

This is the third movie I’ve seen from Assayas, following "Irma Vep" (1996), which I hated, and "Summer Hours" (2008), an improvement. "Clouds" is easily, in my estimation, the most accomplished of the three.

But then, this film is of a type I often like a lot—an intellectual challenge that does not forget that the viewer has a heart as well as a brain. The challenge arises from the fact that so many of the film’s lines are the play’s, being rehearsed by the actress and her assistant in readings that test their own relationship.

Assayas uses music, mostly classical, the clouds of the film’s title, and his weighty lines spoken by his talented actresses (particularly Binoche) to create a dream-like film arcing from one revelatory scene to another.

Some will find it too talky or esoteric, but I didn’t see these as problems.