Films about the plight of ageing actresses have become a particular genre. Key examples include Joseph Mankiewicz's magnum opus All About Eve and Gena Rowlands' seminal performance in John Cassavetes's Opening Night. With Clouds of Sils Maria, French director Olivier Assayas brings his own all-star interpretation to this theme. In his French-Swiss-German co-production, Juliette Binoche plays Maria Enders, a European actress who has made it big in Hollywood. Despite her success, she is volatile and highly strung and when her father figure, playwright Wilhelm Melchior, dies, she suddenly and painfully realises that she has reached middle age.
During a trip to Zurich, Maria is offered a part in Melchior's most controversial play, "Maloja Snake". This is the story of a doomed lesbian relationship between the businesswoman Helena and a manipulative young intern. More than 20 years ago, Maria was cast as the younger of the two, a role that catapulted her to fame. Her performance eclipsed that of the older woman, then a well-known actress. This time, director Klaus Diestinger (Lars Eidinger) wants her to take on the part of the businesswoman, while a high-flying newcomer (Chloë Grace Moretz) is lined up as the intern. Maria worries that history will repeat itself and becomes so desperate to outshine her younger counterpart that she retreats to a mountain chalet and starts rehearsing her lines with a nervous and grim determination.
In a sense this film, with its French, American, German and Swiss actors set against the backdrop of the Alps, feels like a throwback to 1990s European co-productions. These used to be derided as "europuddings" that randomly cluttered together stars from all over the continent, creating a soulless mishmash, with critics arguing that films needed to be grounded in a single culture.
Clouds of Sils Maria, with its intriguing plot and excellent cast, which includes Kristen Stewart as Maria's assistant Valentine, could have been a great film, a successful "europudding". Yet Olivier Assayas tries to turn it into an intense teutonic experience, backing shots of mountaintops with ominous music and introducing characters whose accents are thicker than the fog over the Matterhorn. Despite portentous conversations and jagged peaks, the film never gets close to capturing the German (let alone the Swiss) "soul".
Though Assayas is out of his depth interpreting German culture, he has a knack for intimate scenes. The more he focuses on the minutiae of the relationship between Maria and her assistant Valentine, the tighter the film becomes. Shacked up in a narrow valley, they read Melchior's play to each other. Maria puts all her fear and pent-up frustration into her lines, so the film's plot and the play "Maloja Snake" become indistinguishable.
Fuelled by streams of alcohol, the rehearsals turn into a claustrophobic nightmare and a test of Valentine's tolerance for suffering: "I know it's hard for you, but please don't take it out on me," she pleads. While they rehearse, Maria obsessively watches YouTube clips of the teenage prodigy. But when she finally meets her bête noire, she is surprised by how down-to-earth the young actress is. Any remaining awkwardness is dealt with by the girl's flattery: "It's incredibly brave of you to take on the role of Helena. It's a way of dealing with time," she says.
As the opening night of "Maloja Snake" draws closer, Maria panics and asks her agent to terminate the contract. After much coaxing, she decides to take on the challenge after all. Yet facing her fears comes at a price. Her relationship with Valentine becomes increasingly unhealthy, and Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart act this with so much nuance that one can't help wishing the film was all set in a cottage in France with no music or other distractions.
That said, those who happen not to be German may not take issue with the film's quirks.
Peak performances
Mountains make great backdrops for films and can even play the main role, as in the "Bergfilme"(mountain films) of 1920s Germany, in which climbers had to fight an epic battle against nature. Hollywood has eagerly mined these classics, borrowing their imagery for action blockbusters such as Cliffhanger (1993). European arthouse cinema, too, likes snow-capped peaks. Most recently, Swedish director Ruben Östlund's brilliantForce Majeure had a man caught in what he thought was a fatal avalanche leave his family behind – only to find them unharmed.
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