Getting old might not be so bad if it weren't for the sense that the world can't wait to replace you with a younger model. That's especially true for women, and doubly so for actresses. In Oliver Assayas's Clouds of Sils Maria, successful actress Maria (Juliette Binoche) has rewluctantly agreed to participate in a revival of the play that made her famous 20 years prior. It's about a destructive affair between a young woman named Sigrid and her older mentor Helena — with the catch that Maria will now play Helena, with her original role of Sigrid to be assayed by a troubled, tabloid-bait starlet (Chloë Grace Moretz). Set largely in the Swiss Alps, much of the picture is a terrific two-hander between Maria and her assistant Val (Kristen Stewart), who runs lines with Maria while engaging in occasionally fourth-wall-pushing philosophical debates about innocence versus maturity, what it means to have integrity as a celebrity in modern Hollywood, and everything in between. There's some unfortunate, entirely gratuitous nudity, but Binoche and Stewart have a terrific chemistry together — look, are we comfortable yet saying that Kristen Stewart has the potential to be one of the best actresses of her generation? Because she may well become one of the best actresses of her generation. And Bincohe still ain't a slouch, either.
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