Personal Shopper, 2016.
Directed by Olivier Assayas.
Starring Kristen Stewart, Lars Eidinger, Sigrid Bouaziz, Nora Von Waltstatten, and Ty Olwin.
SYNOPSIS:
The personal assistant to an internationally famous model is also a medium, desperately trying to contact her recently-deceased twin brother on the other side. Her efforts meet with little success, until she starts receiving mysterious texts and has a direct experience of a ghost.
For her second film in just a fortnight, Kristen Stewart swaps the wide open spaces of Montana from Certain Women for the less glamorous side of the fashion world in Paris, one of shallow sales assistants, traffic filled streets best navigated by moped and beautiful clothes she can only admire longingly. It’s also her second collaboration with Olivier Assayas and her role here bears a passing resemblance to the one she played in Clouds of Sils Maria, that of the personal assistant to an actress.
But it is only passing. Maureen (Stewart) spends her time surrogate shopping and organizing the life of a top model who is a complete nightmare to work for. And she hates every moment of it. She’s also a medium who made a pact with her twin brother before he died: whichever one of them died first would send the other a sign from the spirit world. She’s constantly looking for it, a search that stands in the way of her forming any true connections with other people. So her relationship with computer geek boyfriend Gary (Ty Olwin) is conducted via Skype and she rarely, if ever, sees her employer, Kyra (Nora Von Waltstatten), receiving her instructions by phone or on notes left for her, along with cash payments. It’s a life lived at arm’s length.
The story itself starts out looking like it’s going to be about the contrast between the apparently glamorous nature of her job and the empty emotional side of her life. It’s not and that initial idea fades away to nothing. The focus moves on to a ghost story, with Maureen eventually contacting an especially malevolent spirit and we actually get to see it. It’s the main chunk of the film but, just like the first chapter, it doesn’t really lead anywhere. And, from there, it moves on to become a murder mystery, one with the occasional echo of Hitchcock. Although it’s the least convincing section of the film, it coincides with the arrival of all those mysterious text messages and they are unsettling, both for Maureen and for us. Are they from a stalker, drawing her into a dangerous guessing game? Are they that sign she’s been longing for? Or is she simply communicating with a world that’s just not there?
Like Clouds Of Sils Maria, it’s an enigmatic film but, with the exception of Stewart, that where the similarities begin and end. She is more than strong enough as an actress to carry the film, fidgeting and fragile with a combination of defiance and the look of somebody haunted by their own dreams. She’s the main reason for watching, exemplifying the idea that being a medium, or having similar abilities, isn’t so much a gift as a curse.
The film’s inability to develop its ideas fully makes it head-shakingly frustrating and Assayas’ trademark style of editing accentuates that. He loves to leave his audience in mid-air with either an abrupt scene ending or a fade that starts a couple of beats too early. It’s even more noticeable here than usual and whether he’s simply trying to get the audience to think for itself or doing nothing more than showing off is never wholly clear.
Yet, despite all that, Personal Shopper is eminently watchable, fascinating even. It’s a strange film in so many ways, it’ll frustrate and delight in turn, but it will pull you in.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Freda Cooper – Follow me on Twitter, check out my movie blog and listen to my podcast, Talking Pictures.
Originally published March 13, 2017. Updated November 14, 2019.
