Juliette Binoche stars in 'Clouds of Sils Maria'

IF "CLOUDS of Sils Maria" sounds too much like toxically dull art-house fare, try thinking of it as "Birdman" with beautiful women.

Which it kind of is. Juliette Binoche stars as aging actress Maria, a refugee from the world of silly Hollywood blockbusters trying to find her artistic footing with the revival of a daring stage production, a la Michael Keaton.

In "Clouds," though, the casting stunt that adds a layer of winking irony to the story comes via Kristen Stewart - she plays Maria's slouchy assistant, Valentine, using several smartphones to manage Maria's hectic schedule, to inform her of the latest viral gossip.

Much of this has to do with an American ingenue, Jo-Ann Ellis (Chloe Moretz), a star-dating, franchise-anchoring paparazzi magnet being considered as Maria's co-star in the daring new play.

Watching Stewart watch Jo-Ann's shooting star is the movie's big meta joke. And there's another wrinkle, pardon the pun: The play concerns the volatile relationship between a younger and older woman. Maria became a star as the younger character, and now is being asked to return as the older woman. And to cede the spotlight, probably, to this new ingenue.

This aspect of "Clouds" seems a bit backward - middle-aged woman in jealous battle with youth and beauty - but the movie pushes past it by giving the actresses so much rich material to work with.

Maria and Valentine, for instance, are analogues to the characters in the play, locked in their own fraught relationship. As they run lines (again, shades of "Birdman"), we're often not sure if the women are inside the play, or acting out their own lives. The effect is cleverly destabilizing (never more so than in its resolution).

Writer-director Olivier Assayas juggles these complexities efficiently, though he's a better director here than a writer of English - there are lines that make you wince, to the point of taking you out of the movie.

Binoche keeps pulling you back in, bringing her European detachment to the role of willing Hollywood outcast.

She has a funny and winning scene with Stewart, both drunk, as the latter attempts to defend an American fantasy extravaganza as high art (again, she might be talking of her own work in "Twilight").

"Clouds" also looks at the invasion of new media and its influence on the creative process - the Internet and its appendages, which keep everyone tethered to the silly side of the business, to celebrity and gossip, leading even high-minded artists to leverage it to their advantage.

In "Birdman," art fights through all of it, and wins.

Here, the outcome is seriously in doubt.