A Good Movie Overlooked because of Madonna's History
9/10
Author: zachary_nickerson-426-117878 from United States
18 July 2012
I began watching this movie expecting to ironically like it because it had Madonna's name on it. I expected a trashy, beautiful, skin-deep spectacle whose emotional depth was replaced by beauty. What I found was a very good movie whose small bumps were amplified because Madonna's name was listed under Director. Expecting to like this on the same level that I liked Filth and Wisdom (frivolously and embarrassedly), I was VERY surprised when this movie was what I was given.
The movie's main characters are acted very well - Abbie Cornish's Manhattanite House Wife is not adoring mush and Andrea Riseborough's Thirties Trollop is not a charactature of an early Twentieth Century puppet. The music for the movie is superb, as are the costumes.
And while this is not directing at its greatest, Madonna has done quite an amazing feat for having this be her first attempt as a Full Length Director (because did Filth and Wisdom count as a movie?). Because her name was on the credits, reviewers went into the movie looking for a witch hunt. In all reviews small complaints were blown out of proportion so that a pedantic, pretentious reviewer could give W.E. one star. Yes, Madonna had a few hiccups on the way, but no more than with any other first-time-director.
Rollingstone (my Bible for movie reviews) gave it one out of four stars but neglected to voice why or where Madonna went wrong, but merely stated that she failed at directing.Many say that this movie is all fluff and no substance - which would be fine had Madonna's name not been on it. Remember Marie Antoinette or 2009's Oscar-Winning A Single Man? Those movies were all beauty and no plot and yet it was highly praised and one of my favorites. Why? Because the beauty was a commentary on the main character, just as it is in W.E..
Wallis was very much a woman of frippery, and Madonna showed that beautifully in both her (wee bit obvious) eye with the camera and her sometimes-subtle, sometimes- (hopefully)-obvious script. In all, I found this movie to be very good and I would love to see it again. I was expecting frippery to the Filth and Wisdom standard, but instead got a wonderful piece that should have been taken more seriously. The Oscars should have nodded at this film for more than its costumes in nominations for Andrea Riseborough, Abel Kornziowski, Madonna (for Masterpiece), and (big maybe) Madonna (for her directing).
