Video Interview: Olivier Assayas – Clouds of Sils Maria

Though director Olivier Assayas’ latest project, Idol’s Eye, looks to have been shelved due to funding issues, his film Clouds of Sils Maria is just getting prepped for theatrical distribution here in the states after wowing audiences on the festival circuit. The film premiered at Cannes to a warm reception thanks to its charactorially complex and mysterious tale of an aging actress and her personal assistant which coaxed a pair of stunning performances out of Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart in the leading roles.

After the film’s North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival back in September, I had the opportunity to sit down with the soft spoken, but cinematically articulate Assayas to discuss how he came to center the film around aging and how a person’s relationship with art changes as one ages, as well as the film’s strong resemblance of Ingmar Bergman’s own dueling female fever dream, Persona. Our conversation can be found below.

Clouds of Sils Maria will receive a limited US release April 6th via IFC Films.