Kristen Stewart is a very talented actor.
It’s a pain to consistently write this every time I review a Stewart film, but it’s something I know needs to be drilled into your, the readers’s, heads. See, the majority only know Stewart from the awful Twilight series, and use it as a reference point when arguing that she’s a bland, emotionless actor (and yes, I use actor as a unisex term). The flaw in such reasoning, however, is it’s the source material, not Stewart, who’s at fault here. Twilight is a poorly written series, starring poorly written characters with poorly written dialogue. Stewart’s performance is bland and emotionless because her character is written as bland and emotionless. One can argue that a talented actor can turn even bad roles good, and I’d agree with such statement as I believe Stewart tried making Bella an interesting character (her performance in the first film is fairly decent), but gave up partway through after seeing the mess of a series she’d gotten herself into—phoning it in for the remainder of its course.
It’s a pain to consistently write this every time I review a Stewart film, but it’s something I know needs to be drilled into your, the readers’s, heads. See, the majority only know Stewart from the awful Twilight series, and use it as a reference point when arguing that she’s a bland, emotionless actor (and yes, I use actor as a unisex term). The flaw in such reasoning, however, is it’s the source material, not Stewart, who’s at fault here. Twilight is a poorly written series, starring poorly written characters with poorly written dialogue. Stewart’s performance is bland and emotionless because her character is written as bland and emotionless. One can argue that a talented actor can turn even bad roles good, and I’d agree with such statement as I believe Stewart tried making Bella an interesting character (her performance in the first film is fairly decent), but gave up partway through after seeing the mess of a series she’d gotten herself into—phoning it in for the remainder of its course.
I don’t blame Stewart (I bet even the great Daniel Day-Lewis, if placed in her shoes, would have given up trying) as she deserves far better roles than Bella, because she’s skilled at acting. I’m not the only one who’s noticed, however, as director Olivier Assayas also recognizes Stewart’s potential. This isn’t the first time I’ve simultaneously written about Stewart and Assayas; back in 2015, I reviewed Clouds of Sils Maria, a wonderful film directed by Assayas that co-stars Stewart in a very impressive performance. Assayas now places Stewart in the lead role of his next film, Personal Shopper—an amazing psychological thriller with some downright terrifying moments.
Set in Paris, the plot follows Maureen (Kristen Stewart), a young woman who’s recently lost her twin brother to a heart problem she also possesses. Maureen and her brother had a shared interest in spiritualism—believing themselves to have links to the spirit world—and made a pact that if one were to die, they would contact the other from beyond the grave. After staying the night in her brother’s mansion, Maureen encounters a hostile female spirit, causing her to flee the premises. Maureen returns to her job as a personal shopper for the celebrity Kyra (Nora von Waldstätten), but begins receiving text messages from an anonymous messenger who initiates a psychological game between them.
It’s in Personal Shopper that Stewart delivers her best performance to date. I won’t say she makes the film, because Personal Shopper has so much more to offer, but she definitely has a large part to play in its overall effectiveness. One of the more refreshing characteristics to Stewart’s performances is her naturally dry, reserved personality. I know many people (friends and family) who have such personality, yet it’s a rare sight to see in cinema—most likely because it’s a difficult persona to both effectively emote and direct. Films such as New Moon and Snow White and the Huntsman are examples of such personality not being utilized properly (or, at least, not to its fullest potential), yet Assayas’ filming style is able to bring out the best in Stewart’s performance.
Personal Shopper’s minimalistic soundtrack usage and focus on Stewart’s body language (such as her trembling fingers as Maureen texts the unknown messenger) allows for a very relatable, incredibly natural performance. The big moments where Maureen showcases shock and fear are handled beautifully, yet it’s also the smaller touches—such as Maureen’s hesitancy to talk about her interests in ghosts (which, in turn, showcases her own clashing uncertainty over their existence), to the simplest moment of her pushing away some overly enthusiastic dogs—that turn Maureen into an all-too-realistic character. As strange as it might seem, it’s the latter enthusiastic dogs moment that really stood out for me; it’s an entirely unnecessary moment to the plot that could easily be taken out, yet adds an extra layer of realism to the story as it further humanizes Stewart’s character.
Yet, as written above, while Stewart has a large part to play in the film’s success, she’s still only a part of what makes Personal Shopper a fantastic thriller. I’m going to go ahead and state that Personal Shopper is the scariest modern film I’ve seen since It Follows. There are moments where I covered my eyes (peeking through my finger slits) because the film was getting just, so, tense! I have a general fear of being alone in large houses (my family use to come home and find me carrying a rolling pin or baseball bat around “just in case”), and Personal Shopper really captures how terrifying it is to be in such a situation—only, in the film, Maureen is without electricity, the outside doors are all unlocked, and the house is haunted.
MAJOR SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ONWARD:
One of the film’s most terrifying scenes is when Maureen turns off her phone’s airplane mode to reveal an array of texts from her mysterious messenger, each one stating how they’re getting closer to where she lives as the soundtrack—which has been relatively silent up to this point—begins blaring a deafening noise as Maureen gradually creeps towards her apartment’s peephole. Personal Shopper’s true terror, however, is while ghosts exist in the film’s world (or, at least, the audience and Maureen are led to believe so) it’s uncertain how often they are the cause of such frights. The film continuously had me on edge about whether a spirit, a murderous human, or nothing at all would appear behind Maureen’s back.
Yet Personal Shopper is also a psychological thriller that focuses heavily on its protagonist’s psyche, which brings us back to Stewart’s performance. Maureen goes to Paris to seek enjoyment, yet finds herself stuck in a mundane job working for a person she despises. So while Maureen’s mysterious texter frightens her (uncertain whether it’s a spirit or human), there’s also an air of intrigue and excitement to the situation. Maureen gets a thrill from the stranger’s questions and goading—from doing stuff she’s forbidden to do, to possibly getting caught doing them. I can relate to such thrills, as well as when the situation goes too far and Maureen gets way in over her head—the excitement turning to fear and panic.
The film leaves it ambiguous in regards to how much of its spiritual elements actually occur and how much is only in Maureen’s head. The fact that the viewer sees spiritual occurrences that Maureen does not notice leads me to believe there is something supernatural occurring in Personal Shopper, though how much is real and how much is created by Maureen’s shaken psyche (which, by the film’s conclusion, has definitely experienced some mental scarring) is up to personal interpretation. What I can conclude, however, is that Personal Shopper is an incredibly well-made psychological horror-thriller with a remarkably great performance from a talented actor who really doesn’t get enough credit.