The spoken dialogue in this film is almost entirely in English but that doesn’t change the fact that it is essentially a French film. The title refers to a remote village in Switzerland where most of the scenes were shot and which provides plenty of spectacular scenery to serve as a backdrop. But however beautiful the cinematography is, the real draw remains the scintillating character analysis that is the heart of this film, written and directed by Olivier Assayas.

Established actress Maria Enders is travelling with her assistant Valentine to receive an award on behalf of Wilhelm Melchior, reclusive the playwright and director who gave her her big break 20 years earlier. On the way there, she receives news that Melchior has passed away and so the event becomes a memorial. While there, she is approached by a younger director who wants to revive that same play though this time Maria would be playing the older character Helena while a popular young actress Jo-Ann Ellis would be playing her old role of Sigrid. Maria is reluctant at first but Valentine helps to persuade her that the idea has merit. The two of them retreat to Melchior’s house in Sils Maria to rehearse and analyze the role. Maria however has difficulty leaving behind the character of Sigrid and becomes annoyed with Valentine when the latter argues that she should learn to see things from Helena’s perspective. Meanwhile they meet Jo-Ann who turns out to be more interesting and dynamic than they expected, attracting the attention of the media with her controversial actions wherever she goes.

As I mentioned, this film has some truly spectacular scenery as Maria and Valentine spend plenty of time hiking and relaxing on the mountainside around the Melchiors’ home. In particular the title refers to a meteorological phenomenon known as the Maloja Snake, which is also the name of the play at the heart of this film, involving clouds slowly snaking through the narrow pass between the mountains. Yet that is nothing compared to the sharpness of the writing in here. The first scene alone of Maria and Valentine travelling together on the train is a masterpiece, with Valentine frantically working the phones as she sets up Maria’s itinerary. It packs in so much information about who they are, what they’re doing, pieces of Maria’s past and so on, and yet everything is both perfectly comprehensible and fascinating. From there, it just goes on from strength to strength. We get a tantalizing behind the scenes glimpse into the life of a star of Maria’s calibre as she goes about doing things like evaluating offers of new roles and going to the cinema to watch Jo-Ann’s generic superhero film. We get deep discussions about characters and thematic elements with Maria, Valentine and directors. There is so much to unpack here and it is all fantastic.

But of course the true heart of the film is the relationship between Maria and Valentine and how it mirrors that of Helena and Sigrid in the play though neither explicitly point that out. As the two rehearse the play, it’s clear to the audience that the lines of dialogue could refer to their real selves and while neither Maria nor Valentine self-identify as lesbians, there is a simmering attraction between them as well. The two feel like they are already a married couple as Valentine does chores like preparing meals and cleaning up while Maria focuses on managing the money and her acting projects. Their relationship however becomes complicated as Maria grows increasingly frustrated at having agreed to play Helena who she has difficulty identifying with and Valentine perceives that Maria is unfairly taking it out on her. It’s layer upon layer of meaning stacked together, all of it fascinating and deliciously complicated. I am amused that what we see of the play Maloja Snake itself seems pretty corny with the dialogue outside of it being far superior.

In recent years, it feels like every major drama coming out of France stars Juliette Binoche and it was starting to be a little tiresome. But she is absolutely brilliant in this in a role that Assayas specifically created for her based on elements of her real life. Kristen Stewart is great as well and this may well be her best performance in any film to date. On the other hand, Chloë Grace Moretz’s role in this is smaller than I had expected though it’s a lot of fun to watch her here as a parody of the hot Hollywood star of the day. Overall this is a masterful film all the way from conception to execution.