Both [Kristen Stewart] and Binoche shine in the film; they're electric individually and together.

As Valentine and Marie argue over their interpretations of the play, it sparks an ongoing discussion about youth, aging, memory, superstition and fame.

Assayas establishes a complex emotional weather system in which age and identity ebb and flow as mysteriously as the titular clouds that snake through the Engadin valley.

It is as if Olivier Assayas wishes to introduce jarring formal dissonance through editing and ellipses in order to demonstrate that the intellectual underpinnings of his movie are superior to the mere story.