Review of Personal Shopper (2016) by Gregory G — 06 Jan 2019

Kristen Stewart is mesmerizing as a spiritual medium and personal shopper to a fashion model in this haunting, ambiguous ghost story about grief by director Olivier Ossayas. Stewart is a young American in Paris, working in a job she despises, who spends her days shopping for designer dresses and accessories for a high-end fashion model (Nora Waldstatten).

After the death of her twin brother, she stays in his home looking for signs from him and receives messages from an unknown source on her cell phone and communicates with them. As she travels back and forth to London, we see Stewart texting with this unknown source and Assayas beautifully conveys the loneliness in the era of digital technology.

Despite warnings not to try on the model's clothes, Stewart is tempted by desire of the forbidden and tries them on. Stewart, who appears slightly frumpy and withdrawn, transforms into a confident, sexy starlet, whether dressed scantily clad or in haute couture.

It's a beautifully expansive performance that is her finest to date and places Stewart among the most compelling American actresses of her generation. A rare sophisticated movie about the supernatural that is mysterious without being silly.

Written by the director. Assayas won Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival.