The film follows an established middle-aged actress (Binoche) who is cast as the older lover in a romantic lesbian drama opposite an upstart young starlet (Moretz).

Twenty years earlier, Maria got her big break when she was cast and successfully performed as a young girl Sigrid in both the play and film version of Maloja Snake by Wilhelm Melchior, a Swiss playwright who is now elderly.

While traveling to Zürich to accept an award on behalf of Wilhelm, and planning to visit him at home the following day at his house in Sils Maria—a remote settlement in the Alps—Maria learns of his death.

His widow, Rosa, later confides that Wilhelm had ended his life and had been terminally ill. During the awards ceremony, Maria is approached by Klaus Diesterweg, a popular theater director.

A few weeks later, a young filmmaker who previously sent a script to Maria visits her by appointment five minutes before the curtain rises on the opening night of Maloja Snake in London.

When she says the role he has written is too young for her and would suit Jo-Ann better, he suggests that the character is ageless and he does not relate to his era with its Internet scandals and trashy values.

[11] The film was shot on location in the titular village of Sils Maria, Switzerland as well as Zürich; Leipzig, Germany; and South Tyrol, Italy.

The website's critics consensus reads: "Bolstered by a trio of powerful performances from its talented leads, Clouds of Sils Maria is an absorbing, richly detailed drama with impressive depth and intelligence.

Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph stated, "This is a complex, bewitching and melancholy drama, another fearlessly intelligent film from Assayas."

Valentine is probably her best role to date: she's sharp and subtle, knowable and then suddenly distant, and a late, surprising twist is handled with a brilliant lightness of touch.

"[22] Peter Debruge of Variety said it was Assayas' "daring rejoinder, a multi-layered, femme-driven meta-fiction that pushes all involved—including next-gen starlets Kristen Stewart and Chloë Grace Moretz — to new heights.

"[23] Matt Risley of Total Film called it "an elegant, intelligent drama, enlivened by strong performances by Binoche, Moretz and especially Stewart, for whom this will surely usher in a new dawn.

"[24] Stephanie Zacharek of The Village Voice wrote: "But the movie's true center, the meteorological phenomenon that makes it so pleasurable to watch, is the half-prickly, half-affectionate interplay between Binoche and Stewart.

"[25] Ben Sachs of Chicago Reader wrote: "This recalls Ingmar Bergman's chamber dramas in the intensity and psychological complexity of the central relationship, yet the filmmaking is breathtakingly fluid, evoking a sense of romantic abandon.

"[26] Richard Brody from The New Yorker wrote: "Clouds of Sils Maria, as the title suggests, is a sort of travelogue, a commercial for European cultural tourism, and, as such, it's the perfect image of the very system that created it.