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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Guest Opinion: Plaza fencing is ugly and wasteful ... Herb Rothschild Jr.: Require national service ... Wolf once believed to be dead shows up near Crater Lake ... Guest Opinion: Plaza fencing is ugly and wasteful ... Herb Rothschild Jr.: Require national service ... Wolf once believed to be dead shows up near Crater Lake ... MOVIE REVIEW Prepare for lots of dialogue in 'Clouds of Sils Maria' Comment By Chris Honoré for Revels DailyTidings.com By Chris Honoré for Revels Posted May. 7, 2015 at 12:01 AM By Chris Honoré for Revels Posted May. 7, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Social News Clouds of Sils Maria; 124 min; Rated R The title, “Clouds of Sils Maria,” is a metaphor. Not particularly subtle, but doable. Sils Maria is a mountain range surrounding the Engadine Valley in the Swiss Alps, known for its ethereal cloud formations that slide out of the mountains like a long snake and move inextricably closer to a glacial lake and village. It portends the coming of bad weather. The film opens with Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche), renowned actress, and her assistant, Valentine (Kristen Stewart), on a train heading toward Zurich for a celebratory dinner to be held in honor of her mentor, famous playwright and filmmaker, Wilhelm Melchior. While en route, Maria learns that Melchior has died of a heart attack and suddenly the dinner and anticipated award become a eulogy. She also meets in Zurich a highly regarded young director who wants her to agree to do a play, “Majola Snake,” written and produced by Mechior some 20 years ago, and one in which Maria starred as a young unknown actor, a role that launched her career. However, instead of playing the youthful ingénue (her original role), she will play the older woman, a role about which she feels great uncertainty. An American starlet, Jo-Ann Ellis, (Chloe Grace Morete), who relishes scandal, has been cast as the seductive, manipulating woman. Maria, for all of her fame, is a woman in midlife crisis, going through a divorce, and reluctant to fully acknowledge that her youth, and all its allure, is now part of her past. She is, after countless films, someone else. And so she and Valentine retreat to Melchior’s Swiss chalet near Sils Maria where they will rehearse the lines to the play while discussing the characters, especially the older woman that Maria will try to inhabit, despite the difficulty she has with portraying the older woman. “Clouds” is a film carried by dialogue. Lots of dialogue. Val and Maria discuss, spar, argue, drink too much and talk some more. Their relationship bluntly mirrors the play, and often it is difficult to know if the encounters they are having are part of the play or simply a harsh and confrontational conversation. While the film has moments that are interesting, and Binoche is clearly a gifted performer, the narrative seems stilted and even uninteresting, perhaps because it can feel so inaccessible and obscure. While Maria and Val slip from scene to scene, dinner, breakfast, rehearsal, lunch, it can all seem flat, making it difficult to care about the characters or their brief disagreements or the resolutions. Often it can seem disorienting. Yes, the point made over and over is that art and life can merge as boundaries fall away. What is fact and what is fiction? But for “Clouds” to touch the audience it must reach for more, for an intimacy, for clarity, for depth as well as breadth, which it fails to do. To be sure, Binoche is courageous, and the camera often lingers on her mature even stunning beauty. Stewart, though reaping much praise for her portrayal as Maria’s bright factotum, seems to have only one gear and that is Stewart doing Stewart. She fidgets, smokes, and debates pop culture and pop movies with Maria and still sounds like a quasi-rebellious teenager whose life experiences remain truncated. But then so much of this movie feels the same way: still unformed, even purposely ambiguous. By Chris Honoré for Revels DailyTidings.com By Chris Honoré for Revels Posted May. 7, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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