Film Review: Kristen Stewart is Hauntingly Captivating in ‘Personal Shopper’

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CHICAGO – I’ve had a deep fascination with ghost stories since I was a kid. There is something both interesting and terrifying knowing that there are often unseen forces we could be encountering in our everyday life. Olivier Assayas creates an unexplainable phantasm thriller in “Personal Shopper” that remains completely captivating throughout even if you don’t understand what you just experienced.

Rating: 3.0/5.0

There is an unmistakable style that permeates from all of Olivier Assayas’ projects. There is an effortless naturalism that is ever present in his films, whether it comes from the performances or the physical locations. In the absorbing film “Clouds of Sils Maria,” Assayas explores the shifting role of nature as both the geographical force and the more human aspects of it when it comes to aging. Everything is tied together beautifully and made into complementary metaphors that apply to both the people and the places. “Personal Shopper” offers a more cluttered narrative that talks about the nature of people, both dead and alive.

There are so many themes and ideas swirling around in “Personal Shopper” that sometimes it is hard to identify them or even place how they fit into the story as a whole. Even though the film is mesmerizing, it is obviously compensating for a story only meant to highlight the visuals and performances. The biggest theme in the film is being who you want to be versus being who you think society wants you to be.This is an especially powerful theme for women in the fashion industry where the devil not only wears Prada, but, on deeper examination, perhaps the devil is Prada and companies like it that perpetuate extremist standards of beauty. Even when dealing with all the ghosts from the past, this film takes a look at some of our real life demons and dresses them up in gorgeous designer outfits to show the seductive nature of darkness.

Continue reading for Jon Espino’s full review of “Personal Shopper”

Kristen Stewart bares one of her best performances in ‘Personal Shopper’
Photo credit: IFC Films

Continue reading for Jon Espino’s full review of “Personal Shopper”