The Devil Wears Prada
September 28th 2006 22:56
Comparison's have been drawn to one of Vogue's previous editors, Anna Wintour, who the writer of the novel interned under.
I don't want to talk about that, really. It's been done.
Lavish praise has been heaped on this fashionista's chick-lit adaptation, and as I sat in the Palace Cinema on Norton, surrounded by women, I wondered if I could ever really enjoy it. Could I snap my fingers with an arrogant 'You go, girlfriend!'?
Where were the car chases? The gunfights? The rousing pre-war speeches?
Would Anne Hathaway go topless, to further distance herself from the good-girl image?
In the end, I enjoyed the movie immensely, with the satirical look at the fashion industry and the over-the-top ridiculousness that pervades everything about the magazine. My Orble collegue, Sisi, liked it a long time ago, for the crazy fashion set pieces that illuminate the screen.
In my opinion, she's really hit all the 3-pointers in recent times, with fantastic performances in Adaptation and The Hours.
But this? This is unreal... Director David Frankel takes a backseat to the action and give Streep extraordinary closeups that make you shiver with imaginary terror.
Streep's character is icy, severe and - as the title would suggest - bordering on Luciferian sadism. Of her role in this film, she's been praised with 'a fabulous minimalist performance', and it is something to behold with awe.
From cruel, Streep effortlessly shows a hint of humanity, then snaps back to General Macarthur-like precision. There are casualties in her wake, but she's long ago become more 'machine than man', like the Lord of the Sith himself.
In fact, Streep does such an admirable job, that it becomes hard to hate her vile, evil spirit... and the script supports her, giving her eloquent monologues that defend the vanity of the fashion world.
On one hand, The Devil Wears Prada seems to poke fun at the superficial world of haute couture, but, by casting Anne Hathaway as 'the fat girl' - with her big, beautiful eyes, long legs, thin waist and impressive chest - the movie has already sold out to the idea of image above all else.
Predictably, the movie concludes. And we're left wondering about the message... would it have turned out differently if the protagonist was not Anne Hathaway, but a chubby, plain-looking girl with intelligence?
I'm sure it wouldn't... The Devil Wears Prada wants to empower women by showing them that being yourself is enough to be successful, but, sadly, Hathaway's character succeeds only because she looks stunning in Chanel and Valentino. What have we learned from this? We don't fit it, and fame and fortune are held a grape branch above our heads for the rest of our tiresome, average-looking lives.
I say: See it at the Palace, and suspend yourself in a world where blue isn't blue, it's cerulean. I learned that from the movie.
See it for: Streep's fashion lieutenant, played by Stanley Tucci, is a gay masterpiece of the fashion equivalent of Yoda. With less ear hair.
* the movie poster is from the Independant Critics review, and the publicity still of Miranda Priestly is from the Slate review of the film.
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Comment by Scarlett
Dessert
That was expected anyway and thankfully it didn't detract too much from the film and as always, Meryl Streep was absolutely top notch and her portrayal of Miranda Priestly was fantastic.
Comment by Sisi
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sisi - I went to see it because you hyped it up!
Comment by Cinico
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Comment by Sisi
Cinico - Anne is fab, go see it right away! Hope you have a good time
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cinico, she's pretty goody-goody, I think, with just a hint of tenacity...
sisi, no spiceworld, thanks.
Comment by Anonymous
It's good to hear your opinion and other people's about the film. I read the book last year as a diversion away from my uni work and thought that it would be a good form of escapism that would give me a rest from the endless theoretical stuff that was thrust upon me. But, unfortunately it didn't work. I really didn't really like the book at all. I ploughed through it in the hope that I would enjoy it, laugh or start relaxing at some stage but I didn't. I found the book to be quite awful and not particularly well-written
I sometimes enjoy the genre of light-hearted, contemporary fiction (my euphuism for fluffy books other people call chick-lit). Authors that I think are very good at doing what they do in that genre are Marian Keyes and Anna Maxted, they are very good at combining a gritty aspect of life with humour. They also create characters that I care about, whereas in Prada, I didn't. The boss in the book was too much of a bitch for me to understand why the girl would carry on working for her. The two characters were so polarised I couldn't empathise with the relationship. Plus, it was pretty frantic and didn't slow down my stress levels at all. In fact, I think it rose them.....
But the film version does sound good and I'm curious.....
Comment by Tracy
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Comment by spain01
Juan Carlos
spain again
While your'e about it
Viva l'difference
Fire News Blog
Cities dying of thirst.
Comment by Cibbuano
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I'm a huge fan of Adaptation...
Tracy, really, you didn't like the book? I've only heard good things about it, until your comment. I'm pleased to have found cerulean, too... there are waaay more colours than any of us could possibly know...Wikipedia list of colours!
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
Yes, I loved Adaptation too.
So other people liked the book? I tried hard but I didn't...some bits were funny but in general I didn't do much for me. Bit of a pity because at the time I really wanted a good book for some escapism and humour, ah well.
That colour link is brilliant.....what a resource...
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Comment by MelissaA
Fun Facts
As I only get to watch a few movies a year, I hate wasting one of my rare escape to the movies chances on a bad one, but this one sounds like it might be OK afterall.
Thanks for that! : )
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
I saw the film today and thought pretty much the same as you said in your review. I think that it would've been half the film without the strong actor choices. I had a few chuckles and quite a few grimaces at the world they worked in....it reminded me of a place that I worked at where the boss was just the same. Her assistant knew when she was coming in and had everything ready and she was permanently on call,'just in case'...she even had to feed her cat when she was away...what a scary world.
The ending was disappointing as she left the job and walked into a journalist job straight away, it was too easy and clichéd.
I laughed when Meryl Streep was talking about cerulean, I felt clever knowing the meaning of the word already
Having said all that, I did enjoy the film on the level of being some light viewing and a reminder to be true to myself in whatever field I work in...
Tracy
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