Juliette Binocheception: Playing An Actress Within an Actress in ‘Clouds Of Sils Maria’

Juliette Binocheception: Playing An Actress Within an Actress in ‘Clouds Of Sils Maria’
Actress Kristen Stewart, left, and actress Juliette Binoche pose for photographers following the screening of Sils Maria at the 67th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 23, 2014. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Kristina Skorbach
10/8/2014
Updated:
7/18/2015

A french actress of international renown, Juliette Binoche played a famous actress who is studying a role to act in a theatrical play in the film “Clouds of Sils Maria.”

“I almost played three characters in the movie. The actress in the beginning, and then the working time, and then at the end it becomes a [different character],” Binoche said during a press conference after the screening of “Clouds of Sils Maria” at the New York Film Festival (NYFF) on October 8, 2014.

Binoche, who played a famous working actress studying for a role in a revival of a play which she had starred in 20 years earlier as a younger character. Kristen Stewart played Val, her personal assistant, while Chloe Grace Moretz played the girl who was studying for the role of the Binoche’s younger character. 

For Binoche the role was difficult because she had to portray what it takes to be a successful actress and how she gives herself completely to her roles. 

Director and writer of the film, Olivier Assayas concurred that Binoche and Grace Moretz both had to expose a lot of their own identities as actresses.

“It’s a movie where you ultimately never forget that you are watching those actresses... It’s a movie where you’re constantly watching both the actress and the part,” Assayas said.