Kristen Stewart reunites with filmmaker Olivier Assayas in the artful ghost story Personal Shopper. Maureen (Stewart) is a young woman, whose job it is to do all the clothes shopping for Paris socialite Kyra (Nora von Waldstätten). Maureen is also a medium and she has been trying to make contact with her twin brother Lewis, who recently died of a heart attack. Maureen does end up making contact with a spirit, whose motivations out unclear.
Taking a similar analogy from Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak, Personal Shopper is not really a ghost story pe se, but really more a story that happens to have ghosts in it. Kristen Stewart returns after her acclaimed role in Olivier Assayas' previous film Clouds of Sils Maria to drive the narrative, which often relies solely on Stewart's performance. The film is appropriately creepy and atmospheric during Maureen's ghost-hunting sessions, even though the film as a whole is more of a fantastical drama.
It can probably be said that Personal Shopper is probably not as solid a film as Clouds of Sils Maria, even though its also a completely different type of film. Kristen Stewart continues to shake off the negative image generated by the Twilight films and shows that she is quite capable at driving a dramatic narrative, which often has her doing nothing much having text conversations with a mysterious figure. Altogether, Personal Shopper is worth checking out.
LIKED IT Screenings:
- Saturday, Sept 10, 9:00 PM – Scotiabank Theatre 1
- Sunday, Sept 18, 6:30 PM Scotiabank Theatre 1
