Terrible name for a movie, no doubt, but the trailer for The Clouds of Sils Maria – with all its murky lesbian psycho-drama and behind-the-scenes actorly angst – looks positively bewitching. The All About Eve-like drama (starring Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart, and Chloë Grace Moretz) got raves at Cannes, with Variety calling it a “daring rejoinder, a multi-layered, femme-driven meta-fiction that pushes all involved — including next-gen starlets Kristen Stewart and Chloe Grace Moretz — to new heights.” The Telegraph says that Stewart “really shines here, in probably her best role to date.”
The plot is described in Coming Soon:
At the peak of her international career, Maria Enders (Binoche) is asked to perform in a revival of the play that made her famous twenty years ago. But back then she played the role of Sigrid, an alluring young girl who disarms and eventually drives her boss Helena to suicide. Now she is being asked to step into the other role, that of the older Helena.
She departs with her assistant (Stewart) to rehearse in Sils Maria; a remote region of the Alps. A young Hollywood starlet with a penchant for scandal (Moretz) is to take on the role of Sigrid, and Maria finds herself on the other side of the mirror, face to face with an ambiguously charming woman who is, in essence, an unsettling reflection of herself.