Review: Kristen Stewart is mesmerizing in 'Clouds of Sils Maria'

It is best to just let yourself get lost in the "Clouds of Sils Maria" for a little while. Beautiful as they snake through a valley in the Swiss Alps, they become maddening when they cloak the emotions and ambitions of an older actress (Juliette Binoche) and a rising young star.

In this richly imperfect piece about the vagaries of a life spent in film, French writer-director Olivier Assayas is most interested in the ways in which humans circle back to the people they've been, the past they've had. The film itself is a return to a creative collaboration he and Binoche began nearly three decades ago in their breakthrough, "Rendez-vous."

Binoche plays acclaimed actress Maria Enders, not yet comfortable in her middle-aged skin. Kristen Stewart is her personal assistant Valentine, a smart, opinionated right hand. Chloë Grace Moretz enters a bit later as the starlet, Jo-Ann Ellis, an edgy, unruly favorite of the tabloid press. Her presence on a project that would remake the film that made Maria a star — with Jo-Ann stepping into Maria's role and Maria playing an older, desperate woman on the wane — sets the stage for a great deal of soul-searching about movies, the mainstream, artistic value and fame.

As stirring as Binoche is, Stewart gives a mesmerizing performance that made her the first American actress to win a coveted César award, France's version of the Oscar.

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times