A Million Things

Abstract

This chapter provides a substantial consideration of Olivier Assayas’ Clouds of Sils Maria (2014) and Personal Shopper (2016) to explore the problem of cinema’s relation to time and our own temporal movement through existence, including the experience of watching a film. The difficulties of maturing, the challenges of relationship between persons of different ages, and the idea of a Life Voyage all bring light upon a significant history of travel and its foundational aspect for thinking about these films. This chapter moves back in history to examine the voyages of Captain James Cook as exemplary of the conceptual problem of exploration. In Clouds of Sils Maria, two “navigators” are divided temporally, and exoticism is invoked because of movement across that division. In Personal Shopper, the protagonist’s sensitivity has made her into a phantom wanderer.