User Reviews

I loved this film. I watched it twice and went back to the final minutes of the film, starting with the note telling Maureen to go to Room 329. Maureen goes to the Plaza, Room 329 with the bags of Cartier jewelry, She goes to meet the person who she suspects killed Kyra. In the room, she puts the jewelry on the bed, she then sees someone that we don't see and then, the scene fades to black. The next shot is of the hotel elevator and hotel doors opening and closing as if an invisible being is walking out. Is this Maureen's ghost/spirit? Was Maureen killed in room 329? It seems so. Back inside, the next scene if of Ingo exiting room 329 alone, leaving the hotel and being accosted by the police. He escapes.. From there to the end, Maureen is only a spirit. In Oman, she finally realizes that what has happened. "Is it me?" she asks.

(Many commenters about the film seem to doubt that a Personal Shopper is an actual job. Yes, it is. There are personal shoppers in high-end stores that assist the wealthy as well as helping photographers, filmmakers and other professionals find the needed clothing and accessories for their project. Personal Shoppers also work for celebrities, as in this film. It's not an easy job because of the demands and responsibilities.)

At times I feel giving this film a 7 seems generous, but overall it's probably deserving of that score. The story lulls around a bit longer than it should and I definitely grew disengaged during certain periods of the story. However, I do believe the core concept is fairly strong and Kristen Stewart's performance is as well;having seen Certain Women only the other week, I now find myself wholly impressed with her acting ability.

Basically, Maureen (Kristen Stewart) believes her recently deceased twin brother is trying to communicate with her because they had made a pact that whoever was to die first would send the other a sign to indicate that all is well and they are at peace.

The mystique of the film, as you might imagine, is if Maureen is engaging with a malevolent spirit or a peaceful spirit; her brothers spirit or even a spirit at all. This ambiguity is reflective of Maureen's own disillusionment with an unfulfilling career and life, as well as her mourning.

Personal Shopper sort of falls between genres and because of this it doesn't really satisfy fully as a drama nor a mystery. For me, it plays best as a narrative on grief and a characters search for identity. In this regards, the film offers an original take on those themes.

If you would LOVE to watch Kristen Stewart spend an entire film sending and receiving boring anonymous text messages (which have zero relativity to the plot and character development), then boy ahoy you are in for a real treat here!

I can't bring myself to waste much time on writing a review for this. The biggest takeaway from this film is that Kristen Stewart sends and receives a lot of text messages with an anonymous person on the other end. That's it. There's really nothing else in this film. It's not scary, it's not mysterious, it's not adventurous, it's not thrilling, it's not dramatic, it's nothing.

Hopefully this helps you make your decision if you're considering whether to watch or not to watch.

Since the end of the Twilight franchise, Kristen Stewart has been branching out into other kinds of roles. One is Olivier Assayas's "Personal Shopper", in which she plays a young woman (a personal shopper for a celebrity, in fact) who starts having encounters with a mysterious entity. Sort of a mix of drama and thriller, the movie's high points are the texting conversations between Stewart's character and an unknown sender. The movie concludes on sort of a confusing note. Maybe it implied that the eerie visions were her own subconscious guilt about what happened.

I wouldn't call it any sort of great movie, but I liked the focus on the character's feeling of descent into madness (if that's what it was). I hope that Kristen Stewart continues with these more cerebral roles.

An astonishingly tedious movie that you continue to watch in the vain hope that Kristen Stewart's character (Maureen, no seriously, Maureen!), who resembles more a street junkie than an angst-ridden bereaved sister, washes her hair. Laughable special effects (hovering cups, things that go bump in the night etc etc) are coupled with the preposterous suggestion that somebody has chosen to employ and trust the incredibly surly, heroin-chic Maureen to purchase clothes, bags and jewelry suitable for a high-flyer. Occasionally Maureen takes her top off (which even as a red-blooded male seemed to me to be exploitative), tries the clothes on (after being told not to) and does some more exploitative solo-girl action on a bed. In between all this Maureen tries to contact her dead brother because she is a medium (possibly revised down to a small after seeing her topless). Eventually it all ends ambiguously. The 'arty' set love this film. Only because, and presumably that is why Ms Stewart agrees to take her clothes off, they collectively believe that if a film has a French director it must be dark, atmospheric and stylish rather than what it actually is: Pretentious, soulless and meaningless.

I've never seen a movie which treats the viewer with as much respect as this one. There is no exposition, no hints to make sure you can keep track of what's going on. Every conversation is written for the characters, not for the viewer. And the scenes of nudity - they are neither drawn out or overplayed, nor is the movie coy about them. Everything just is. It's truly extraordinary.

Furthermore, the main character is extremely likeable. She's smart, direct, honest, open, and well-acted. With this directing style and that kind of protagonist, I would probably give it a positive score even if the story was completely boring. Which is not the case at all - the story, just like the rest of the movie, is unconcerned with tropes. Highly unpredictable, highly authentic.

As you can tell, I appreciate this style of directing a lot. More movies should be like this. It might even be a 9 - I've given it an 8 because the watching experience wasn't mind blowing, but it feels like the kind of thing that I will probably appreciate more over time. The plot is definitely worth thinking about.

Edit: I am changing it to a 9/10, and I think I figured out what the plot is about.

At first glance, it is merely a mystery.

At second glance, you might guess that Maureen died at the scene in the hotel. Ingo, who was probably also the one who texted her, has killed both her and Kyra. In the scenes where doors are opening and closing by themselves, it is really her ghost walking out.

But this is a bad theory. Why is it bad? Because a theory should explain the strange things that happen, and this theory explains almost nothing. Yes, it fits the doors opening and closing. But that is the only thing it explains. It doesn't explain who texted her (they knew things about her that Ingo wouldn't know). It doesn't tie into the specter she encounters in her brother's house. And it doesn't explain the ending at all. Worse still, the one data point which fits well is contradicted in the next scene. She is clearly visible to other people. Yes, perhaps her soul is still here for a while. But then, why would she be invisible in the first place? No matter how you look at it, it doesn't explain the movie well. If this theory was correct, then the plot would be poorly constructed.

Here is what I think really happened. Maureen is distraught about her brother's loss. A part of her can't let go. Because she is a medium, that part has taken on a form of its own. The specter is her. The person messaging her, it's her. The doors opening and closing - it is her, but it is the separate part of her that has been separate all along. Maureen didn't die. She's still alive at the end of the movie. The ghost she encounters then; it's her again.

This theory explains almost everything. It explains why the messenger knew her as well as they did. It explains why it started right after the specter appeared. It explains why it wanted her to do forbidden things. It explains the doors opening and closing on their own, despite Maureen being visible in the next scene. And it explains the ending.

Also, notice that the hotel room was booked under her own name. With this theory, this is literally accurate.

It's not obvious what happened with Ingo. Maybe she made him kill her. But more likely he acted by himself, and then the specter decided to steal the jewelry.

But despite this one loose end, it is the far better explanation. Most of what happens fits into it, the key moments of the movie obtain meaning, and the beginning and ending ties it all together. Her brother's spirit is still there; we see him at some point. He has emotional importance for her. But the one whom she encounters at the beginning, at the second scene in the house, during the text messages, in the hotel, and at the end - it is all the specter, who is a part of herself.

Maureen (Kristen Stewart) is working in Paris as a personal shopper for Kyra (Nora von Waldstätten) someone who is famous for being famous and posing with guerrillas from what I can figure out. She is also attempting to contact her dead twin brother Lewis who had a genetic heart condition, the same one Maureen has. Her doctor told her not to use emotional facial expressions or brush her hair, so back off Kristen haters. It is a condition.

Odd things happen in the film. Kristen is bothered by " unknown sender". She has a "class 4 encounter" with someone that is not her brother. Then more weird things happen and there was a dress up and masturbation scene which really didn't add anything to the film except a second very pale nude scene. The film sort of went somewhere, although I wasn't sure where it went. A different kind of ghost story.

Guide: F-word. Nudity (Kristen Stewart)

"Personal Shopper" is a French-German co-production that is in the English language because the lead actress here is Kristen Stewart. Writer and director is French filmmaker Olivier Assayas and he worked with Stewart very recently already on a movie that resulted in major critics awards recognition for the young actress. So no surprise that they decided to reunite so quickly and this time Stewart is even the lead actress (and not Binoche). The German impact comes through the participation of actors like von Waldstätten and Eidinger in supporting roles. But it is really Stewart's movie. She is in absolutely every scene from start to finish and gives a commanding performance that manifests her in the acting elite from her generation, probably even as the number 1 at this point. She has her very own niche in terms pf physicality and approach and she fills it with grace. People who still think she sucks because of what she did in Twilight a decade ago have certainly lost their credicble connection when it comes to understanding what film is about these days.

Now about this one here: It runs for 105 minutes approximately and is a relatively dark film. Stewart plays a personal shopper for a celebrity, which means she is busy buying her clothes because the star does not have time for that herself. But she is much more. She is also a medium who tries to get in contact with her deceased twin brother and now you already see why I call this a pretty dark movie. Stewart's looks fit the character very nicely. It's obvious she is suffering a lot from the whole situation and her encounters with ghosts make things even worse. And if that isn't already enough, she already suffers from a rare heart disease that complicates things, even if she says it doesn't worry her. The movie itself takes several directions in terms of the approach to mystery and horror and thriller. Sometimes the ghosts are very visible in ghost form, sometimes they are visible in human form, sometimes they aren't visible at all, can only be heard and at one point the film even turns into a murder mystery, during which one character tries to use the protagonist for his own sinister purposes when he frames her with murder. Will it work out? Watch for yourself.

Anyway, as a whole I enjoyed this movie for the most part. Lengths are almost non-existent, but I am probably a bit biased here as I just love watching Stewart as an actress and not only is she stunningly beautiful again while still pulling off that somewhat casual regular look and male audiences can be interested here in particular because we get to see a whole lot of her here and with this I don't just mean her looking stunningly beautiful in an expensive dress. And what we hear from her in one particular scene is almost even better. No more spoilers. You need to watch this one and you will immediately know what I mean. I personally thought Stewart gives an awesome performance that would have deserved an Oscar nomination, but it is okay. I'm sure her first Academy Award (nomination) is only a matter of time because of how unique she is right now in the industry. She puts her full talent on display here and carries a pretty good movie by herself. The only people that I would not recommend seeing it are those who neither like Stewart nor supernatural (yet subtle) horror films. The only reason why I did not give it a higher rating is probably because ghost movies are not exactly my cup of tea. But Stewart makes it work and elevates the material a lot, no doubt about it.

This film was listed by my cable provider under the Horror section, and you wouldn't know it watching much of the film. It plays as a quiet, introspective drama, focused on Maureen and her interactions with some French people we gradually find out are trying to clear a house of a "spirit" while she is also trying to confirm that she's made contact with her dead twin brother.

the film has a very "indie" vibe to it, with very little music and a lot of focus on Maureen's normal daily activities as a personal shopper to a French model (someone who buys stuff for her so she doesn't go out in public and get harassed by paparazzi and/or fans).

rather suddenly, we get a horror sequence involving a ghost. Then Maureen is being harassed by an unknown person via text message. She communicates with them on a somewhat casual basis. Then suddenly the model Maureen works for is murdered and Maureen is very briefly a suspect before some man apparently escapes a poorly executed attempted abduction in mid-day. Then suddenly Maureen explains to her friend that some guy confessed to everything and she's off the hook.

then she goes to either Oman or Marrakech and is confronted by a ghost directly. she asks the ghost questions and it appears to answer via bangs on the wall. it contradicts itself in its answers, then she asks out loud if it's "Me", and if she's actually alone, and the wall bangs in affirmative. Then the movie abruptly ends.

It wasn't an altogether horrible movie, but the tone of the horror sequences were completely off from the rest of the movie, as if done as re-shoots to change the movie entirely. The ending also was completely inexplicable. I get the attempt to try to be esoteric or cryptic with a seemingly inexplicable ending, but this ending was not seemingly inexplicable, it was COMPLETELY inexplicable. Absolutely nothing in the movie preceding it in any way provided a basis, foundation, clue, or even a red herring that could possibly set it up.

The ending was like something out of a completely different movie we did not watch, much like the horror sequences. I would have rather watched one of the movies (the horror or the quiet indie drama) instead of a soulless combination of the two

I watched this one at the Thessaloniki film festival and I was once again impressed by the filmmaking skills of the Great Olivier Assayas, who is as self assured as anyone could be while writing and directing this cinematic riddle. But let's start with the basics. The film is about a young woman Maureen (Kristen Stewart), who works for an eccentric and spoiled celebrity, serving as her personal shopper, but also doing other irrelevant chores. Three months after her twin brother's death, who died from the same heart malformation that she has, Maureen still spends her free nights at her old family house, waiting for her brother to send her some sort of message from the afterlife. She believes that she, like her brother, is a medium and that she can have contacts with the spiritual world. But when Maureen truly opens herself to this world, whose very existence she doubts, her life gets more and more complicated and the boundaries between reality and what may be her dark fantasies (?) or the spiritual world (?) grow even harder to tell apart. The film can be interpreted as a parable about the way in which our belief in supernatural factors highly complicates our lives and after a certain point, as we begin to interpret even the most tedious and unimportant events of our routine as miraculous interference of a greater force or being. But even if you approach it plot-wise only, it is still extremely engaging and unexpectedly terrifying, as you are filled, like the film's protagonist, with uncertainty about the future. You simply cannot predict what is about to happen, because the film is like the mysterious entity that keeps messaging Maureen; it is impossible to safely say which its intentions are. What may actually cause hate and dislike towards the film from most people is how much it relies on the decisions of the audience. After the brilliant texting sequence, which had me on the edge of my seat, it is entirely up to you to say what is really happening. You even get to decide if a character is living or dead, real or unreal, which to my mind is thrilling, but to many a man it will be unimaginably tiring and pointless. But then there is a career - best performance by the electrifying Kristen Stewart and Assayas' masterful direction which, along with a script that demands attention and inspires countless conversations, render "Personal Shopper" an unforgettable experience.

I don't usually write reviews, though I read a LOT. After spending 1 hour and 45 minutes of my life sitting through this "film", I couldn't resist leaving my first actually review. So, without further ado...

First of all, I LOVE scary movies, and was excited by this "unique ghost story" and that I might actually be creeped out... They just don't make them like they used to, amirite? Oh boy, was I unpleasantly surprised.

Kristen Stewart is a weird actress. I never watched Twilight, but she seemed strangely uncomfortable the entire movie. I can't envision a person that actually behaves like that in real life. Also, her hair was SO annoying. Strangely oily.

Moving on to the myriad of inconsistencies. What is up with the scratched cross? Was it just me that thought it didn't totally resemble a cross? She sketches? What does that have to do with anything? She's a personal shopper? What does that have to do with anything? Why does she act so uncomfortable all the time, like with the German guy?

Then, the text messaging. OMFG. Like, she's not even a good texter. It's really annoying to watch her text. Also, what is up with the forbidden theme? That is SO random. It makes NO sense.

Then, Kyra's death? I honestly don't get it.

Her conversation with Edwin. Wait, he's American too?!? What a random kawinkidink?!? Also, why does he look like he's dead inside when he's talking?

ZERO closure at the end.

Honestly, if private messages, or responses to reviews, can be sent/posted, please reach out! If you rated this movie higher than 7, I would love to understand how your brain works.

I really enjoyed "Clouds of Sils Maria" and so I had to watch this one, too. It was screened during the "French movie week" in Berlin and so I got lucky to see it before January.

"Personal Shopper" starts out as a kind of a ghost story. A dark old building, the main protagonist - Maureen, portrayed by Stewart - is alone, you hear steps and movement, creaking doors and so on. All the classic elements. Almost cliché. For the first 30 minutes it is nearly impossible to get the direction of the film, but in a good way. The pace is slow, there isn't that much of dialogue. Stewart basically carries it alone and she is brilliant the whole time.

I don't want to give away to much, so I just say that things start to evolve. Assayas throws bits of back story on the audience. Tells about Maureen and her brother, her work and her boss, but also about mediums, ghosts, souls of the dead etc. Throughout the movie different characters voice their opinion about belief and disbelief in spiritualism. The good thing is, it does not matter to which group you belong to enjoy what you see.

After a certain point the pace and the suspense grows with every minute, the plot takes directions I had never expected and when the credits rolled I was blown away. I guess this is the kind of movie that people either love or hate. If you are looking for a strong plot, a clear message, people actually talking to each other, this movie might not fill your needs. What you get is a strong performance of Stewart and a lot of uncertainty and confusion told in an amazing way by Assayas.