By Maria Lewis
Anyone who has experienced the loss of someone close to them – the death of a family member, colleague or good friend – knows a very specific, intimate feeling. It’s hard to describe, but not impossible. It is, however, unique only to those who have met with grief and worked (or are working) their way through it. It’s that point in time when the immediate shock of the person’s death has passed: the news is now something you live with. Yet it’s too soon to be at the period where things begin to resemble a sense of normalcy, where you start to resume your life and get back to living. That impasse and that in between zone is a hellish purgatory for those dealing with grief. It can feel like the emotional equivalent of being stuck in the mud.
Personal Shopper is a movie which bottles that sensation. Written and directed by veteran French filmmaker Olivier Assayas – who has a career spanning more than 30 years – it stars Kristen Stewart as a 27-year old personal shopper for a demanding celebrity in Paris. Her character is stuck in that stalemate as she deals with the death of her twin brother Lewis from a heart condition that she too shares. The thing is, she’s not really dealing at all. She’s waiting. Lewis and Maureen were both mediums who could connect and communicate with the spirit world. The pair made a pact that if one them should die, the other would remain in that area until they had received a sign from their deceased sibling on the other side.
Maureen is searching for that sign, although she struggles to differentiate between what could be the lasting effects of her grief and what could be her ability as a medium. On the surface, a French ghost movie starring Stewart doesn’t seem as if it should be terrifying. No stranger to the genre, as an actress she has dabbled there before with Cold Creek Manor, The Messengers, Panic Room (in a way) and even the Twilight films to a degree. And she certainly has found her match in Assayas, who she worked with on Clouds Of Sils Maria which won her the Cesar Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2015 – something never achieved by an American actress before. Yet Personal Shopper – which boasts her best performance to date – is horrifying nonetheless. It’s très French in its manipulation of fear: that is to say, it’s not overly flashy or gory or obvious. Although it should be noted, there is some gore.
Assayas is patient as a filmmaker and skilled as he slowly, meticulously racks up the tension for both the audience and Maureen. Unlike so many ghost movies within the horror genre, it’s not a question of if ghosts exist. We see them, Maureen sees them, and as a unit they’re experienced together. In the world of the movie, they are present and a presence. The questions are rather, what do they want? Are they at peace? And do they harbour malicious intent? Personal Shopper’s impact isn’t truly felt until long after Maureen asks one final question. It’s felt in the space remaining once the credits have rolled. It’s felt in those moments when you think about those you have loved and lost and where they might be now. It’s felt in the emptiness of a house that still manages to creak. It’s felt in those moments alone when you suddenly, inexplicably, feel like you are not. The film manages to become one of the most skilful and effective within the ghost subgenre and treads territory that is simultaneously familiar and new. As much as it’s designed to frighten – and boy, does it – it’s also designed as a love letter to what we go through as humans: the loss, the grief, and the unknown.
Maria Lewis is a journalist and author who can be seen on The Feed, weeknights on SBS Viceland. She’s the presenter and producer of the Eff Yeah Film & Feminism podcast. Her debut novel Who’s Afraid? was released in 2016 with the sequel – Who’s Afraid Too? – out now. You can find her on Twitter @MovieMazz.
