The Clouds of Sils Maria

"A thin line separates love from hate, success from failure, life from death, a line as difficult to walk as a razor’s edge." -- W. Somerset Maugham.

I'd also add, reality from illusion. What are the stories we tell ourselves? How much of what we believe is real and how much is based on molding our thoughts and feelings to a scenario of our own making? As the characters traverse the mountainside, they're traversing this thin line by throwing out ideas, holding onto some and rejecting others, because they either don't fit, or they hit too close to home.

Both of these journeys take maps; one is a chart of the region and the other is a script, full of the past and present blending together, creating a fertile field of self reflection. I like maps. I want a map of sorts, to sort out what is going on in this movie. I'm going to take Valentine's arm as my map. There are three dominant tattoos and they may have some insights into the story.

The eye from the painting Guernica: Some say the eye represents the sun, others, interrogation. Picasso himself said it wasn't up to the artist to define the symbols, but for the public to use their own understanding. So if I were to try and look at it through Valentine, I might see it as representing her as the observer, seeing all and interpreting what is paraded before her. Maria dismissed her impressions as too simplistic, but sometimes greater truths are very simple and unfortunately for Maria, biting.

Three fishes from a David Foster speech: "There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, 'Morning, boys, how's the water?' And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, 'What the hell is water?'" Foster goes on to say, "The immediate point of the fish story is that the most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about." He continues on explaining, how often what we think is certain, turns out to be completely wrong. I know this is the case, more often than I'm comfortable with. Yentl had it right. "The more I learn, the more I realize the less I know." As the personal assistant, Valentine is constantly having to negotiate the "waters" and accommodate Maria's viewpoint. For a long time, she is willing to be told she's wrong and is open to learning. Maybe too long. Her ability to consider other truths and her desire to be with Maria, keeps her in a less than ideal relationship and it takes its toll.

A smile at the foot of a ladder: This is also a title to a fable written by Henry Miller, who's aim was to write truth, the way he sees it. About the main character he said, "[he is] unique in that he came from the blue. But what is this blue which surrounds and envelopes us if not reality itself? . . . We have only to open our eyes and hearts, to become one with that which is." I like to think of Valentine hiking, while working through all that she has gone through with Maria and coming to the realization that her own instincts are right and should be honored." That blue sky and the clear air awakens her to what she must do.