year 5 day 44

movie:Clouds of  Sils Maria
starring: Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart
genre:Drama
year:2014
format: Netflix Canada

plot: An actress who became famous for her seductive portrayal in her youth, is asked to redo the play 25 years later but in the role of the older woman. She at first rejects the idea, but soon finds herself unwilling to let go of the play, and her role. All the while, finding her real life mirroring the characters in the play.

You almost have three overlapping mirror images happening here. The lead character, played by Binoche, at one point talks about the affair she had with a male costar when she first started out, and expresses her insecurities about it. While her personal assistant; the Stewart character, ends up having an affair with a brash young photographer they met while doing a magazine cover. We know that something went wrong with the younger woman's relationship, we the viewers are just never given the knowledge of what. Meanwhile, the character of the younger starlet played by Chloe Grace Moretz, is also having an affair with a married man.
The bulk of the movie is nothing more then watching the two leads Binoche and Stewart, running lines and talking about why the Binoche character should or shouldn't be attempting to do the play. It gets confusing which is the main point. You're never 100% sure where the play ends and when the "real life" begins. And they both end up mesmerized by the Moretz character of the still younger starlet.

There is this subtle but striking vision clue when the Binoche character, after deciding to do the play, chops off her hair and begins dressing in suites. Where as in the beginning of the film, she's got longer hair, and is seen in very lovely gowns and make-up when her character is still refusing to take the role. It's almost as if she's denying the possibility for the first half hour, unwilling to see herself as anything but who she was 25 years before hand. Which is yet another theme in the film, the idea of being stuck in your own image of yourself.

what did I learn? Seduction comes in all forms, and only when you admit it can you get past the fear of who it will leave in it's wake. Fear is as seductive as seduction itself.