What Does The End Of Personal Shopper Really Mean?
An infuriating, intoxicating mystery.
Kristen Stewart is fast emerging as one of the most talented and under-appreciated actresses of her generation, reinforced by her riveting performance in Olivier Assayas' recent psychological thriller Personal Shopper.
The film takes the typical ghost story formula and gladly hurls it out the window, resulting in a heady, deeply challenging film that makes few concessions to the viewer and begs them to fully engage their brains.
It may not have lit up the box office upon release, but the film has sparked a fervent discussion online among fans, who have posited theories ranging from the plausible to the crackpot, with particular regard to the film's infuriatingly ambiguous ending.
Considering these theories while accepting the film's loose supernatural logic and wealth of narrative contradictions, here's a considered stab at just exactly what the end of this utterly beguiling movie actually means...
9. The Plot
First off, let's recount the plot, which follows Maureen (Kristen Stewart), a personal shopper for high-profile fashion model Kyra (Nora von Waldstätten).
Maureen has recently suffered through the death of her twin brother, Lewis, from a congenital heart defect which she was also born with, meaning she lives every day under the very real possibility the same thing could happen to her (even as her doctor insists otherwise).
Like her departed brother, Maureen believes herself to be a spiritual medium, and desperately hopes that Lewis might give her a sign that the afterlife does indeed exist. Soon enough, she begins encountering seemingly otherworldly visions, and receives taunting texts from an unknown party.
Is this all part of her brother's plan to reach out to her, or is there another explanation?