Certain Women
Official Competition
Described by Variety as ‘the quietest of great American filmmakers', Kelly Reichardt has distinguished herself as a director able to convey deep emotion and meaning through her concise, atmospheric storytelling. Her new film, based on Maile Meloy's short stories, tells three connected stories of independent Montana women trying to understand and shape the world around them. Attorney Laura (Laura Dern) is pestered by a client eager to have his case reopened and things quickly escalate to a hostage crisis. Meanwhile, on an elderly family friend's property, Gina (Michelle Williams) and her husband find the ideal sandstone for the dream home they're building on the outskirts of town. They convince him to part with the stone, but it's unclear that he's aware of what he's promising. In the third story, a young woman (Lily Gladstone) who works as a ranch hand becomes fascinated with Elizabeth (Kristen Stewart), a lawyer who runs legal workshops in the small town. Reichardt uses the landscape and its stillness as a spectacular backdrop to these melancholic, transcendent tales. Leaving much unsaid, she vividly creates a unique and mesmerising world that is a pleasure to enter.
- Thursday 9 June 6:10pm
- Friday 10 June 11:35am
- Friday 17 June 6:15pm
Personal Shopper
Kristen Stewart shines in this spooky ghost story by Olivier Assayas (Clouds of Sils Maria, Clean), which earned him the Best Director prize at Cannes 2016.
Stewart (who also stars in Certain Women, which screens in Official Competition at SFF this year) plays Maureen, a young American woman living in Paris and working as a personal shopper for a celebrity. She spends her days perusing the city’s luxury designer stores, collecting fabulous pieces that she is forbidden from wearing and could never hope to own. Alongside her isolating job, Maureen pursues her psychic ability to communicate with spirits. All the while, she longs for a sign from her recently deceased twin, Lewis, who promised to send her a message from the other side. Stewart gives a commanding performance, subtly shifting between certainty and fragility. Things become stranger and stranger as it becomes apparent that an unfriendly spirit is pursuing Maureen. Following their successful collaboration on Clouds of Sils Maria, Assayas and Stewart reunite to create a daring, provocative and creepy existential drama.
- Wednesday 15 June 9:15pm
- Friday 17 June 8:15pm
If you're in Sydney Australia, you can purchase tickets here for 'Personal Shopper' and here for 'Certain Women'.
The Sydney Film Festival runs from 8 June - 19 June.
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