A bewitchingly complex melancholic drama from Olivier Assayas (Something in the Air) about Maria, a diva actress devilishly played by Juliette Binoche whose career is on the wane, her smart devoted personal assistant Valentina (Kristen Stewart, who gets better and better) and Jo-Ann, a nubile young actress (Chloe Grace Moretz) sizzling with confidence and sexuality, eager to take Maria’s crown.
Assayas has delivered a razor-smart script in a film that honestly explores the peaks and troughs of celebrity living, the private and the public and what’s next for an ageing actress who has peaked in arthouse, theatre and the occasional blockbuster (at one point Maria says ‘I’m sick of hanging from wires in front of green screens’).
A captivating study in one not but three psyches; it’s All About Eve shaken and stirred with some Bergman-esque psycho-sexual female misbehaving.
