Who is this really about?

‘Personal Shopper’ deals with Kristen Stewart

“Personal Shopper” may be a story about a young woman’s possible communication with the dead, but it feels like an allegory for the very real and personal conversation between director Olivier Assayas and his latest muse Kristen Stewart.

Following their collaboration in 2014’s “Clouds of Sils Maria,” Stewart finds herself at the center of Assayas’s new film, one that symbolically delves into her anxious, conflicted psyche. According to Assayas, “Personal Shopper” wasn’t based on an idea that he’d been developing, nor was it simply written with Stewart in mind. Rather, Assayas confesses, he’d never have written the screenplay if he had never known Kristen Stewart.

Yes, it’s subjective as to what “Personal Shopper” may reveal about Stewart herself, but undoubtedly it’s a mesmerizing window into how one of the world’s great directors perceives her, is intrigued by her, and worries about her.

As in “Clouds of Sils Maria,” Stewart again plays a woman on the periphery of fame’s circle, working for someone who’s actually a part of it. Stewart’s Maureen Cartwright is the titular shopper for a celebrity, though no mere lackey. She’s trusted to make decisions about wardrobe and other matters related to public image. But the title “Personal Shopper” serves a double meaning. Maureen is forced to take a deep, personal inventory following the death of her brother. He suffered a volatile heart ailment that she shares, and it lays in wait like a ticking time bomb.

Maureen’s brother was a medium, a person who claims to be in tune with spirits and supernatural energies, taking a more psychic approach to spirituality than a religious one. In her grief, Maureen makes attempts at opening herself up to her brother’s spirit, hoping he may have something to share with her, or his grieving girlfriend, or those close to them. This obsession to hear from the dead, we come to see, stems from a void within Maureen.

It’s that void that Assayas seeks to understand. It’s rooted in insecurities—of her identity as Maureen—or Stewart herself—and how she’s perceived. How this bears itself out causes Assayas to shift toward literal “ghost story” territory, a supernatural leap that polarized the churlish Euro crowd during its debut at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, though Assayas went on to win the Best Director prize. 

Assayas does briefly visualize the spirit in rather low-rent fashion, but the primary contrivance he employs is more mysterious and clever, turning that unknown spirit (Is it Maureen’s brother? Someone else?) into a stalker, giving the film its tension and suspense throughout the second and third acts.

The unknown spirit asks Maureen questions that cut to her core. These exchanges must be what initially inspired Assayas to write the script, a construct to lob confrontational questions at Stewart—someone who’s haunted by the ghost of celebrity yet also can’t seem to give up that ghost. Like a provocative mentor, Assayas asks Stewart via Maureen to take stock of what she actually believes, and needs (or thinks she needs). 

The story goes places I couldn’t predict, stirring visceral reactions to its twists and turns. There’s a stretch where Assayas fetishizes Stewart, temporarily adding a sleazy subtext, but the intensity of the final stretch is palpable and likely serves as its own metaphor about what Stewart would like to see come of her fame.

With Assayas as role player, “Personal Shopper” explores Kristen Stewart’s tortured relationship with stardom and how horrifying she finds it, though I’ll confess I could easily be over-psychoanalyzing the whole thing. Even so, it sure is a fascinating way to watch it. 

Full Circle

A brief rundown of what’s happening at Circle Cinema

OPENING APRIL 7

Song to Song
Director Terrence Malick (“Tree of Life”) sets another one of his philosophical meditations against the backdrop of the Austin, TX music scene, with two intersecting love triangles. Starring Michael Fassbender, Rooney Mara, Ryan Gosling, and Natalie Portman. Rated R.

The Void
This low-budget horror movie follows a police officer who tries to protect the patients and staff of a hospital who become trapped there by cloaked, cult-like figures. Everyone begins to go insane as a gateway to an immense evil is revealed. Not Rated (R level content).

Your Name
A Japanese anime feature based on a novel of the same name, this is the tale of a high school boy in Tokyo and a high school girl in rural Japan who swap bodies. One of the highest grossing Japanese films of all time. Rated PG.

OPENING APRIL 14

Gifted
Chris Evans (aka Captain America) stars as Frank Adler, a man raising the daughter of his deceased sister. When the girl emerges as a mathematical child prodigy, Frank turns down a scholarship to an advanced school so that he can give her a normal childhood. The girl’s grandmother wants her to have the opportunity, and a custody fight ensues. Rated PG-13.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Twelfth Night – NT Live
Simon Godwin directs this joyous new stage production of Shakespeare’s classic comedy about mistaken identities and star-crossed lovers. Champagne toast at intermission.
(Thurs. Apr. 6, 6 p.m.)

2nd Saturday Silents – Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)
The original cinematic dramatization of the tale about a Jewish prince, Judah Ben-Hur, who seeks to find his family against all odds during the time of Christ. Judah also seeks revenge on the childhood friend who had him wrongly imprisoned. Bill Rowland accompanies on the Circle’s original 1928 pipe organ.
(Sat. Apr. 8, 11 a.m.)

Rainbow Road
A unique artistic experience from writer/artist Joe Andoe, described as  a story about two 16-year-olds who are “kinda like a stoned Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer.” Q&A with Andoe follows at 8:10 p.m.
(Sun. Apr. 9, 7:30 p.m.)

Native Spotlight: Chasing the Light
This independent comedy-drama by filmmaker Blackhorse Lowe is the story of Riggs, a down-on-his-luck screenwriter. A filmmaker reception prior to the film begins at 6:30 p.m., and Q&A with Lowe follows the screening, moderated by Michelle Svenson.
(Tues. Apr. 13, 7:30 p.m.)

For more from Jeff, read his review of ‘The Salesman.’