Personal Shopper (2016)
Country: FR/GER/CZ/BEL
Technical: col/2.40:1 105m
Director: Olivier Assayas
Cast: Kristen Stewart, Sigrid Bouaziz, Lars Eidinger
Synopsis:
An American girl medium works as personal shopper to a fashion star in Paris, while at the same time investigating her late twin brother's home for manifestations from the spirit world. The two strands of her life become increasingly interwoven, with catastrophic results.
Review:
Almost a companion piece to Clouds of Sils Maria (qv.), this delves more deeply into the field of the unexplained with which that movie concluded. As with all Assayas's work, it is not quite a genre piece, though at times working highly effectively as a thriller of the uncanny. The narrative revolves entirely around Stewart's character, and thus the various strands (the sister-in-law, the brother, the boyfriend, the employer, the employer's lover, the sister-in-law's new lover) only exist as satellites to her consciousness. How this messes with her/our perceptions is of course key to the unravelling, but the director cannot resist leaving us with one remaining conundrum. On the way he has a good deal of fun, though as usual the viewer must do a fair bit of wading to find the pearls.
Country: FR/GER/CZ/BEL
Technical: col/2.40:1 105m
Director: Olivier Assayas
Cast: Kristen Stewart, Sigrid Bouaziz, Lars Eidinger
Synopsis:
An American girl medium works as personal shopper to a fashion star in Paris, while at the same time investigating her late twin brother's home for manifestations from the spirit world. The two strands of her life become increasingly interwoven, with catastrophic results.
Review:
Almost a companion piece to Clouds of Sils Maria (qv.), this delves more deeply into the field of the unexplained with which that movie concluded. As with all Assayas's work, it is not quite a genre piece, though at times working highly effectively as a thriller of the uncanny. The narrative revolves entirely around Stewart's character, and thus the various strands (the sister-in-law, the brother, the boyfriend, the employer, the employer's lover, the sister-in-law's new lover) only exist as satellites to her consciousness. How this messes with her/our perceptions is of course key to the unravelling, but the director cannot resist leaving us with one remaining conundrum. On the way he has a good deal of fun, though as usual the viewer must do a fair bit of wading to find the pearls.
Country: FR/GER/CZ/BEL
Technical: col/2.40:1 105m
Director: Olivier Assayas
Cast: Kristen Stewart, Sigrid Bouaziz, Lars Eidinger
Synopsis:
An American girl medium works as personal shopper to a fashion star in Paris, while at the same time investigating her late twin brother's home for manifestations from the spirit world. The two strands of her life become increasingly interwoven, with catastrophic results.
Review:
Almost a companion piece to Clouds of Sils Maria (qv.), this delves more deeply into the field of the unexplained with which that movie concluded. As with all Assayas's work, it is not quite a genre piece, though at times working highly effectively as a thriller of the uncanny. The narrative revolves entirely around Stewart's character, and thus the various strands (the sister-in-law, the brother, the boyfriend, the employer, the employer's lover, the sister-in-law's new lover) only exist as satellites to her consciousness. How this messes with her/our perceptions is of course key to the unravelling, but the director cannot resist leaving us with one remaining conundrum. On the way he has a good deal of fun, though as usual the viewer must do a fair bit of wading to find the pearls.