Personal Shopper (2016)

A personal shopper in Paris refuses to leave the city until she makes contact with her twin brother who previously died there. Her life becomes more complicated when a mysterious person contacts her via text message.

Director:

Olivier Assayas

Writer:

Olivier Assayas

Stars:

Kristen Stewart, Lars Eidinger, Sigrid Bouaziz

9 wins & 19 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kristen Stewart	...	Maureen
Lars Eidinger	...	Ingo
Sigrid Bouaziz	...	Lara
Anders Danielsen Lie	...	Erwin
Ty Olwin	...	Gary
Hammou Graïa	...	Detective
Nora von Waldstätten	...	Kyra (as Nora Von Waldstätten)
Benjamin Biolay	...	Victor Hugo
Audrey Bonnet	...	Cassandre
Pascal Rambert	...	Jérôme
Aurélia Petit	...	Chanel PR
Olivia Ross	...	London Fashion House PR
Thibault Lacroix	...	Paris Fashion House PR
Calypso Valois	...	Photoshoot Assitant
Benoit Peverelli	...	Photographer

Storyline

It's been already three months since the sudden death of her 27-year-old twin brother Lewis from a congenital malformation of the heart, and Maureen, a young fashionista, assistant to a celebrity woman and a capable medium, still hasn't made any contact with him. Spending her time between high profile fashion establishments and the abandoned Lewis' house in Paris, Maureen is silently battling with the gut-wrenching grief and sorrow, while at the same time, looking for a sign from her deceased brother after an oath taken between the twins. Aloof, disoriented and still mourning, wraithlike Maureen attuned to the ethereal realm, is inevitably caught between this world and the spiritual, always looking for portals and a sign that would prove her brother right, however, in vain. Unexpectedly, as the days pass by swiftly and the random apparitions become more frequent, Maureen will start to receive strange text messages from an unknown sender who seems to know a lot about her, but in the ...

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Plot Keywords:

spiritualism | text message | medium | personal shopper | voice over letter | 

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Taglines:

Connection in time.

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some language, sexuality, nudity and a bloody violent image

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Germany]

Country:

France Germany Czech Republic Belgium

Language:

English French Swedish German

Release Date:

10 March 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

Personal Shopper

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$79,175, 12 March 2017, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$1,305,195, 9 June 2017

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$269,920, 19 March 2017

Company Credits

Production Co:

CG Cinéma, Vortex Sutra, Sirena Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.40 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During the film, Stewart's character wears a sweatshirt with "Betino's" on it. This is a famous Parisian record shop.

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Goofs

When Maureen is texting, her texts are frequently answered immediately, usually in less than one second. There is no time lag built in for the other person to read her text and type in their response. This goof is probably intentional. Building in a time lag for the other person to read/respond to her messages would considerably slow down the pacing of the movie, so responses to her texts were probably prepared in advance and sent immediately.

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Quotes

[last lines]
Maureen Cartwright: Lewis is it you?
[pauses]
Maureen Cartwright: Or is it just me?

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Connections

Referenced in Saturday Night Live: Kristen Stewart/Alessia Cara (2017)

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Soundtracks

Ave Generosa
Written by Hildegard von Bingen
Performed by Jordi Savall and Andrew Lawrence-King

User Reviews

Interesting art-house flick

Personal Shopper is a movie from the director of "Clouds of Sils Maria" and also stars Kristen Stewart once again. In this movie Kristen plays a character whose twin brother dies and she's looking for his ghost. They both believed in the afterlife and they promised to each other that when one of them days, they have to make contact to the other from afterlife.

It probably sounds like I just described a beginning of a horror movie, but this movie is far from that. It's very weird, but it's very interesting too. While not really fun (well, it was never really fun to watch an art-house movie, the fun part comes after when you discuss it and try to figure out what the hell happened), it's certainly interesting. All three acts are very different from each other. The first act is almost a horror movie. The second act is the weak part of the movie, I really can't categorize it, maybe I psychological drama? I don't know, it's very slow paced and it's basically just Kristen Stewart's character shopping, texting and occasionally doing weird stuff. What's an art-house film without characters who randomly do something weird? And the third act is, again, a bit thrillerish with some supernatural elements. It's also a very ambiguous movie and leaves a lot of food for thought, but sometimes it's taken too far and important plot points are showed off- screen. Honestly, I wouldn't even mind it that much if the middle was interesting. In that case there would at least be some kind of balance. This way, it feels a bit off. But the ending is a great example of how to achieve ambiguity in a film. And in the less interesting parts, a bright spot was Kristen Stewart who carried the entire film extremely well and shows that she is one of the most interesting young actresses today. Too bad she's only popular for her worst roles.

Overall, this was an interesting art-house film that could have been more interesting, but with its ambiguity, it leaves you thinking.