Personal Shopper (2016)

Genres

Drama, Thriller

Director

Olivier Assayas

Country

France

Cast

Kristen Stewart, Lars Eidinger, Nora von Waldestätten, Anders Danielsen, Sigrid Bouaziz, Ty Olwin, Audrey Bonnet, Pascal Rambert, Hammou Graia, Benjamin Biolay

Storyline

Maureen (Kristen Stewart) is a personal shopper who refuses to leave Paris until she makes contact with her death twin brother and whose life becomes more complicated when a mysterious person contacts her via text message.

Opinion

I've never been a huge fan of Kristen Stewart but I have to admit that since she left the whole Twilight thing behind her, she has really been working in some pretty good (indie) films and giving pretty good performances too. That's why I wanted to see "Personal Shopper" so badly, but unfortunately, the film isn't as good as I was hoped. Sadly, it is a rather boring and pretentious ghost film that could have been very interesting.

I don't believe in ghosts, afterlife and stuff like that, but in spite of that, the storyline to this film sounded very promising. The problem is that the Olivier Assayas wasn't able to develop the medium part as good as he should have. There's too many subplots or side-plots that are quite irrelevant, not really developed and that only distracts from the main story. Because of that, although it is nicely paced and the plot takes turns I wasn't expecting, "Personal Shopper" didn't manage to fully engage me.

But I'll have to give Mr Assayas the credits for the horror scenes. On the technical aspect, they are flawless and that how Assayas manages to deliver plenty of suspense and some thriller as well.

However, what really got me through the film was Kristen Stewat. She seems the perfect fit for the role - she is indeed able to carry the whole film - and she fully manages to capture all the layers of her character, Maureen, a tormented, fearful woman who is desperately in search of an identity.