Note: We have already published the following article and re-edited it for the current TV broadcast.
Kristen Stewart got her big break with the Twilight saga. Since then she has built one of the most exciting careers in Hollywood and is today one of the big names in world cinema. Last but not least, her collaborations with Olivier Assayas are decisive for this. The best of these is called Personal Shopper, airing today at 8:15pm on ServusTV.
Watch a trailer for Personal Shopper here:
Personal Shopper – Trailer (German) HD
Kristen Stewart in the most extraordinary ghost film of the 21st century
The French director pitted her against Juliette Binoche and Chloë Grace Moretz in 2014’s superb The Clouds of Sils Maria before writing a film just for her two years later, and his still today most impressive performance projected on the big screen.
We are talking about Personal Shopper, one of the most extraordinary ghost films of the 21st century. Between horror and drama, a haunting story unfolds here that gives Kristen Stewart an incredible stage to share beautiful shades a fragile figure to shape.
However, Personal Shopper does not work according to the traditional mechanics of a horror film, but rather varies and distorts familiar genre elements – always with particular attention to the hidden conflicts of the protagonist, who makes her way through Paris as a so-called personal shopper – i.e. as a shopping consultant for fashion matters.
Personal Shopper, a film full of mysterious images
However, the fashion metropolis does not shine here in a flurry of flashes. Instead, Olivier finds Assayas unexcited and still mysterious images, making the city seem as desolate as it is beautiful. Personal Shopper subverts expectations, unites opposites and finds many alternative perspectives for otherwise very familiar scene sequences and conflicts.
Personal shoppers
And then the ghosts appear (sometimes even spewing ectoplasm), although we can’t guess about them as much as we can see them in the dark. But Maureen, played by Kristen Stewart, is so confident in her presence that it would be impossible to deny that Olivier Assayas’ cinematic spaces are empty. Everything we can’t see visually in Personal Shopper, reflected on Kristen Stewart’s face.
The film tells of life and death, of hidden traumas and dark secrets, of hopes and desires – and all this in contrast to materialism along with unexpected border crossings, eventually culminating in an exchange of short text messages on a smartphone. Olivier Assayas finds many expressions for the story.
All the emotions of the personal shopper are concentrated in the face of Kristen Stewart
But Kristen Stewart is very valuable in this film as a projection screen for all that is unsaid that lies dormant in the characters and the world they live in. She absorbs all the impressions of this world and rejects them at the same time. Unapproachable, encrypted as a riddle: Finally, his Maureen faces the camera without any armor in what is probably the strongest shot in the film.
Again, everything that happens in Personal Shopper takes place in Kristen Stewart’s face, and we get the full picture of the room even when see only a fraction of this. You won’t find better proof of Kristen Stewart’s acting talent out there.
*These links are so-called affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links or sign up, we will receive a commission. This has no effect on the price.
Will you be watching Personal Shoppers on ServusTV tonight?
