"Personal Shopper" is a miraculous film that in its quiet way wreaks havoc with the viewer's perception. You can never be too sure of what exactly is going on, and more than one viewing is mandatory. If you look away you miss important plot points. A reflective mood is essential for taking in what the movie shows us.
Kristen Stewart is a surviving twin in this story; at the beginning of the film we hear that her brother has died from the congenital heart ailment they both suffer from. In her upper-20's, she's now alone and grieving in Paris; her boyfriend works in IT and is off in Dubai setting up a mega-company's security protocols for an unspecified timeframe. She works as a personal assistant/shopper for a celebrity of some kind; we hear her say she's not happy with the job or her employer, but it's apparently all she could find. Even then, she has to hound her employer to get the money owed to her, and the employer treats her like she's barely visible.
With her entire life on such queasy ground, Stewart is also trying to contact her late brother's spirit. It seems they both had psychic powers and functioned as mediums. They had a pact to try and contact each other, if one of them were to die. She's staying overnight at her brother's house in a rural area outside of Paris, attempting to communicate with him. She comes into contact with an entity in the house, which attacks her with malevolent fury. It is not her brother, though, and she's too scared to go back.
It's at this point that the story seems to veer in another direction, but does it? That is the heart of the movie. As viewers, we are never sure exactly what we are seeing. Events begin to happen quickly, and as I said if you miss a scene it may alter your view of the film. Stewart's character misses many important points in her own story; her inattention to the happenings in her own life affect events in the movie. She may be psychic but she also seems to have a wicked short attention span. Spirits may show themselves, but she's either misinterpreting the signals or missing them alltogether.
I loved this movie; I purchased the Criterion release but didn't see it in the theatre, and I wish I had. As I said it's slow moving and quiet, but momentous things happen. Stewart is absolutely right for the part. She has a knack for looking like she's caught in the headlights of an oncoming car, forever uncertain of what's going on and surprised by it; she's never ahead of the script but always catching up, belatedly reactive. Always running away from her job, Paris, London, and the events that happen to her, she's constantly either arriving or departing. It's the kind of film you have to watch, to know if you like it or not.
Kristen Stewart is a surviving twin in this story; at the beginning of the film we hear that her brother has died from the congenital heart ailment they both suffer from. In her upper-20's, she's now alone and grieving in Paris; her boyfriend works in IT and is off in Dubai setting up a mega-company's security protocols for an unspecified timeframe. She works as a personal assistant/shopper for a celebrity of some kind; we hear her say she's not happy with the job or her employer, but it's apparently all she could find. Even then, she has to hound her employer to get the money owed to her, and the employer treats her like she's barely visible.
With her entire life on such queasy ground, Stewart is also trying to contact her late brother's spirit. It seems they both had psychic powers and functioned as mediums. They had a pact to try and contact each other, if one of them were to die. She's staying overnight at her brother's house in a rural area outside of Paris, attempting to communicate with him. She comes into contact with an entity in the house, which attacks her with malevolent fury. It is not her brother, though, and she's too scared to go back.
It's at this point that the story seems to veer in another direction, but does it? That is the heart of the movie. As viewers, we are never sure exactly what we are seeing. Events begin to happen quickly, and as I said if you miss a scene it may alter your view of the film. Stewart's character misses many important points in her own story; her inattention to the happenings in her own life affect events in the movie. She may be psychic but she also seems to have a wicked short attention span. Spirits may show themselves, but she's either misinterpreting the signals or missing them alltogether.
I loved this movie; I purchased the Criterion release but didn't see it in the theatre, and I wish I had. As I said it's slow moving and quiet, but momentous things happen. Stewart is absolutely right for the part. She has a knack for looking like she's caught in the headlights of an oncoming car, forever uncertain of what's going on and surprised by it; she's never ahead of the script but always catching up, belatedly reactive. Always running away from her job, Paris, London, and the events that happen to her, she's constantly either arriving or departing. It's the kind of film you have to watch, to know if you like it or not.