Kristen Stewart became the first American actress to receive a César Award (Frances version of the Oscars) when she won for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Olivier Assayas Clouds of Sils Maria. Now fully removed from her association with the Twilight saga, Stewart is well on her way to fulfilling the promise shes always shown as a serious, distinctive performer. Her role as Bella Swan ensured that the star would always get her detractors - and her peculiar acting style is always going to be divisive - but it remains that, on her day, she can be truly great. Her best day yet comes here, opposite Juliette Binoche in one of those one-cant-work-without-the-other deals I spoke of in the introduction. Binoches Maria Enders is an iconic actress, and Stewart plays Valentine, her whip-smart, devoted personal assistant. In many ways, Valentine, as played by Stewart, is the smarter of the two women, more able to perforate the bullsh*t that comes with being a celebrity. Valentine has genuine chemistry with Enders, as well as a mutual respect, but as the fraught relationship begins to fall into disrepair, we can sense Valentines frustration, her anger at not being taken seriously. This is played out in Stewarts now standard awkward gestures: the constant hands through hair; the heel of the hand to the forehead; the nervous lip-bite, surely her most famous trait. As the film comes to a close, Valentine disappears into the mountains, into the titular clouds. She is never mentioned again, but her presence lingers over the films final stretch like shes still there. She is impossible to forget.
