if you clicked on this video,
You're likely one of the following: either an advocate of Kristen Stewart's excellence
Or you've been binging those god-awful 'Kristen Stewart Acting Fail' videos in the hope that this will be some sort of tongue-in-cheek
video essay...
it's not.
You see, Kristen Stewart's image as an actress has changed drastically over the years
She's no longer the awkward pale
teen girl plastered on the Twilight posters yet, sadly, public perception of her - at least in the mainstream
- Is that she still is.
And while I'm not going to defend the franchise
I will say that by the final film Stewart was the beating heart of Twilight despite being
handicapped by a woeful screenplay and a dying franchise.
Ever since Twilight ended, and stewart's acting career continued, there has been a distinct shift in her choices and
performances. She's almost
abandoned mainstream blockbuster cinema for the arthouse and independent scene. And it is there where she has flourished and developed her own
Distinctive style - a style I want to discuss today.
Kristen Stewart's acting gives off vibes of French cinema and the French New Wave and its aesthetics. And also mumblecore
Now, the mumblecore style of delivery, for those who don't know, is a method of acting that appears
naturalistic. For an actress that was once a slave to franchises and blockbusters,
Stewart has shown that her greatest strengths reside in the authenticity of her acting...
her awkward hair pulling...
fidgeting...
lip biting...
These are quirks you will have noticed in her acting. It may seem like an actress who's struggling to bring her character to life
Trapped within her own persona perhaps
But it's actually the opposite Stewart brings a genuine human edge to all of her characters making them deeply empathetic
and relatable. They feel real.
A lot of actors are praised for disappearing into roles, devoting everything to change their entire
characteristics into the one of the character.
But I think a little space has to open up for actors who don't need to do that
Actors who can bring a reality to their characters through their own experiences in life.
For example awkwardness. I feel that awkwardness defines humanity. It has to be inherent in characters, too.
And I don't think any working actor today can hold a candle to Stewart's work in this regard.
She suppresses nothing, devoting herself to the camera in a way that allows the audience to
establish an emotional connection to her character. Whether it's her longingly eating a cheeseburger in Certain Women or
Stuttering her way through sentences in Still Alice, Stewart's realism always reigns supreme.
I won't spoil any of the films discussed here, but U think it's crucial to look at her work with director Olivier
Assayas to understand her progression as an actress. In Clouds of Sils Maria, for example,
Stewart plays a character named Valentine (or Val) who is a personal assistant to a famous actress. In this role,
She embodies a gossip fueled woman who relishes knowing about an affair before everybody else.
Now Stewart is renowned for her relationship escapades a few years back, particularly when she was caught kissing
Director Rupert Sanders on set -- and while I couldn't care less about this and it's not something
I want to talk about on this channel,
I think it shows the mind space of her as an actress.
She now seems to take on roles that embody some part of her life whether that be her personality or past
experiences. Later on in the film there's also this a genius line about werewolves, which is another nod toward her past mishaps... "a mother superior.
There are werewolves involves for whatever reason."
Her acting is genuine, reflective and feels like almost a non trained actor is on screen her body language and facial
expressions add to the authenticity of the character she's trying to bring to life. Whenever Stewart appears in a new role
You can almost expect her performance to be transformative.
She doesn't need to change the way she talks or, change the way she looks, to add a different, distinguishable layer to her character.
She lifts the dialogue from paper and turns it into a living breathing human. Not a caricature, nor on-the-nose transformation.
Just pure reality. In an interview with Elle magazine
Stewart said
That raw honesty, I feel, is a testament to the brilliance of her acting. You know that every role
she takes on is one that she connects emotionally with. The performance is almost always worthwhile and believable.
If you've noticed, Kristen Stewart is never still when she acts. There's always a palpable notion of restlessness which perfectly encapsulates
The bulk of her role. Whether she's leaning against the railing, dropping her shoulders, or rolling a cigarette on her lips...
She never allows the camera to relax. she commands it, forcing it to move with her... studying her moves.
For example Personal Shopper is about a sister trying to communicate with her dead brother.
The film is initially about a possible haunting, but stewart's acting transforms it into an exploration of those being haunted.
She moves and shuffles around the camera very much like a ghost, her facial expressions and her body language enhance every scene she's in.
Stewart doesn't transform into any old role like many great character actors do. Instead, she goes the extra mile for those characters
she can connect with. A great example of that is her work in Welcome to the Rileys
Where she deprived herself from sleep, ate heaps of junk food and spent most of her days
chain-smoking just to prepare for the role of a self negligent young stripper.
But you won't catch her doing this for every role like, say, Leonardo di Caprio who actively transforms into whichever character
he's portraying next.
I think there's a true beauty to what stewart does and her method of acting. It doesn't feel gimmicky or repetitive.
There's something also that's actively freeing for audiences who watch her perform on screen. For the entirety of personal shopper, Stewart often finds herself
acting against text messages on her damn phone... and yet
She turns it into one of the most gut-wrenching and heart-stopping performances of the decade. In a weird way
Stewart almost feels like a director of her own films - her performance is what guides the emotional core of the story, with every character
Inhabiting as much of her as she does of it.
I don't think any actress of her generation for example can portray genuine longing like she does in Certain Women.
Olivier Assayas called Stewart the greatest actress of her generation.
And it tough to disagree with that. Not only is she the first American actress to have won a Cesar award...
...she also has this distinct and genuine eye for naturalism that makes her work feel instantly important and realistic.
I want this video essay to stand as a love letter to
naturalistic acting and how much it has been lost in an age where all we praise is obvious, on-the-nose transformations.
There's a beauty to what stewart is doing here, and boy is she doing it well...