Clouds of Sils Maria

Maria Enders, a well-known actress, is persuaded into a new production of a play she appeared in twenty years ago. This time she will not play the young Sigrid but Helena, the older woman Sigrid destroys. She goes to Sils Maria in Switzerland with her assistant Valentine and runs the lines with her. As rehearsals go on, the relationship inside the play and the one between the two women start to blur. Jo-Ann Ellis, the young star cast as Sigrid, sharpens it further. Olivier Assayas wrote and directed. Juliette Binoche plays Maria, Kristen Stewart plays Valentine and Chloe Grace Moretz plays Jo-Ann. It is a French, German and Swiss co-production. It was shot between August and October 2013 in Switzerland, Germany and Italy. Chanel financed part of the budget and supplied the wardrobe, the brand's first investment in a film. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 91 percent. In February 2015 Kristen Stewart became the first American actress to win a Cesar, for Best Supporting Actress. The film won the Louis Delluc Prize and took six Cesar nominations in all. Against a 5.1 million euro budget it took 4.7 million dollars worldwide. Who it is for: viewers who like films about acting and long scenes between two performers. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a clear plot. The film ends deliberately unresolved and never explains what became of one of its characters.