This was the first film in the 69th edition of the Cannes International Film Festival to be booed by some of the critics. Other critics gave it rave reviews. In spite of the divisive reactions by the international critics, the film was later well-received by the audience at the premiere, who gave a long standing ovation. Olivier Assayas finally won the 'Best Director' award by the 'Official Competition' jury.
Olivier Assayas didn't originally intend to make two consecutive films with Kristen Stewart. However, in 2015 he was working on a American production, which fell apart and subsequently created the script for this film in a short matter of time. In an interview, Assayas said he didn't think he would've written the Personal Shopper screenplay if he hadn't known Stewart.
Olivier Assayas describes this as a companion piece of sorts to Sils Maria (2014). In both films, Kristen Stewart plays a woman on the fringes of wealth and celebrity.
In an interview with W magazine, the Kristen Stewart made it clear that she has no qualms about baring it all for her art. In her conversation, she revealed that she was not tense when she had to act naked in front of the camera and the rest of the crew. "I wasn't apprehensive," she said of getting nude for Personal Shopper. "I feel super great with director Olivier [Assayas], as well. The scenes in which I don't have clothes on or the scenes that seem 'risqué' from an outsider's perspective, there was no acknowledgment on his part." Stewart went on to explain why nudity was such a crucial element in the film's arc. "My personal feeling about that is that I'm really unashamed, but within the context of the story, there's a lot of shame. So it's kind of nice to see someone stripped and bare, totally bare. There's strength in it." When it comes to people who get squeamish about onscreen nudity, Stewart thinks their reactions are actually the root of any strangeness. "I'm pretty open. I think people are a little too f**king weird about it, to be honest, but that's kind of why I was like, 'I'll do it,'" she told the magazine.
Stewart and the crew were filming in Paris and left to start filming in Prague just 48 hours before the 2015 Paris attacks. They were together when the news broke on TV with many of the crew frantically making phone calls to check on the safety of family and friends.