Finally, everything has been seen. Of the 18 films in competition for the Palme d’Or, 16 had screened publicly and all 18 had screened for the press by 11 a.m. on Friday in Cannes. The last, Olivier Assayas’ “The Clouds of Sils Maria,” had the early-morning slot on the final day of new screenings; usually that’s not a good sign, but most critics praised the film about an aging actress (Juliette Binoche) and her young assistant (Kristen Stewart).
Stewart got the lion’s share of praise for a performance that more than one reviewer described as “career-changing”: In the Telegraph, Robbie Collin called the film “complex, bewitching and melancholy,” and wrote, “It’s Stewart who really shines here.