This is not a movie about the making of an issue of a magazine. It's not even about Anna Wintour. It's a movie about the drama between Wintour and Coddington, her stylist and friend of 20 or 30 or 40 years.
The first thing that I noticed was that Wintour retained her great beauty at age 58. She's living proof that at 58, women can be girly. At the same time, when we see pictures of her at age 19 and 21 we notice that she hasn't changed her hair style one iota, which is a bit disappointing for someone who's so much into fashion. OTOH, Grace Coddington, who's 8 years older, didn't age as well but she at least evolved from her early twenties, when she was stunning, to all of her 66 years. Yes, they could both do with a bit of botox, but perhaps one of the points that the movie is trying to make is that even the Pope of Beauty and her BFF don't really need botox in order to be looked up to. And feared. They can boast leading and steering a 300 billion dollar industry, so who really needs superficial beauty then?
In the first half of the film the Grace vs Anna story line is pushed, and it is pushed beyond the limit. Coddington is totally acting the Wronged Genius, the complete right-hemisphere-brain-type, the Artistic One who is curtailed by the Evil Mistress. Meanwhile, Wintour remains curt and concise, as her outward persona prescribes. Indeed, Grace Coddington has the most lines in the script.
The second half of the movie is about the big photo shoot with celebrity actress Sienna Miller (Factory Girl), something which was announced throughout the first half. This story line has a somewhat astonishing development and it casts the Anna as the Queen-of-Mean idea a bit in doubt: She commissions some Italian photographer to do THE shoot of the issue. But it turns out that an essential part of the photoshoot, in the Roman Colosseum, simply isn't delivered by this pasta-clicker, someone who is undoubtedly a good photographer, but not very well known or powerful. So why isn't Wintour blowing a gasket when she finds out that he didn't do the shoot, just because "it didn't feel right"? Amazing. Perhaps I'm not artistic enough.
There are two surprising revelations in two of the three direct interviews that Wintour does, which makes one wonder if Wintour really is proud of what she does for a living. In the first interview, in the beginning of the docu, she gets all defensive about the whole idea that fashionistas are airheads because they focus on the exterior. A clear case of 'Methinks the lady doth protest too much'. In the second one, she tells about her siblings who are all doing charitable work, and whom she feels aren't taking HER profession or work very seriously. I don't know whether this is genuine, or whether this is passive aggressiveness toward her sister and brothers (Wintour is undoubtedly far more successful in what she does than any of her siblings) or whether this is an attempt at softening of her aloof and harsh image. Perhaps it's just an example of how complex any person's life can get, since it appears from the third interview that she clearly would like her daughter to be a fashion editor, which she probably wouldn't do if she wasn't proud of her own accomplishments, but Daughter-Dearest is smart enough not to compete with Mummy.
The movie ends with the Grace vs Anna storyline. It seems that Grace has "won" since it seems that most of her photos are allowed into the magazine by Anna. It's unclear if this has something to do with the fact that the Rome photo shoot was a disaster.
We are left in doubt whether the whole Grace-Anna dynamic was real. Coddington must know a thing or two about clawing ones way to and staying on top, since she's been at the top of her stylist-field for 15 or 20 of the 40 years that she is a stylist. So I really don't know if a: Coddington is such a victim as she seems, and b: Wintours praise of Coddington at the end is real.
The Melancholic Alcoholic
The first thing that I noticed was that Wintour retained her great beauty at age 58. She's living proof that at 58, women can be girly. At the same time, when we see pictures of her at age 19 and 21 we notice that she hasn't changed her hair style one iota, which is a bit disappointing for someone who's so much into fashion. OTOH, Grace Coddington, who's 8 years older, didn't age as well but she at least evolved from her early twenties, when she was stunning, to all of her 66 years. Yes, they could both do with a bit of botox, but perhaps one of the points that the movie is trying to make is that even the Pope of Beauty and her BFF don't really need botox in order to be looked up to. And feared. They can boast leading and steering a 300 billion dollar industry, so who really needs superficial beauty then?
In the first half of the film the Grace vs Anna story line is pushed, and it is pushed beyond the limit. Coddington is totally acting the Wronged Genius, the complete right-hemisphere-brain-type, the Artistic One who is curtailed by the Evil Mistress. Meanwhile, Wintour remains curt and concise, as her outward persona prescribes. Indeed, Grace Coddington has the most lines in the script.
The second half of the movie is about the big photo shoot with celebrity actress Sienna Miller (Factory Girl), something which was announced throughout the first half. This story line has a somewhat astonishing development and it casts the Anna as the Queen-of-Mean idea a bit in doubt: She commissions some Italian photographer to do THE shoot of the issue. But it turns out that an essential part of the photoshoot, in the Roman Colosseum, simply isn't delivered by this pasta-clicker, someone who is undoubtedly a good photographer, but not very well known or powerful. So why isn't Wintour blowing a gasket when she finds out that he didn't do the shoot, just because "it didn't feel right"? Amazing. Perhaps I'm not artistic enough.
There are two surprising revelations in two of the three direct interviews that Wintour does, which makes one wonder if Wintour really is proud of what she does for a living. In the first interview, in the beginning of the docu, she gets all defensive about the whole idea that fashionistas are airheads because they focus on the exterior. A clear case of 'Methinks the lady doth protest too much'. In the second one, she tells about her siblings who are all doing charitable work, and whom she feels aren't taking HER profession or work very seriously. I don't know whether this is genuine, or whether this is passive aggressiveness toward her sister and brothers (Wintour is undoubtedly far more successful in what she does than any of her siblings) or whether this is an attempt at softening of her aloof and harsh image. Perhaps it's just an example of how complex any person's life can get, since it appears from the third interview that she clearly would like her daughter to be a fashion editor, which she probably wouldn't do if she wasn't proud of her own accomplishments, but Daughter-Dearest is smart enough not to compete with Mummy.
The movie ends with the Grace vs Anna storyline. It seems that Grace has "won" since it seems that most of her photos are allowed into the magazine by Anna. It's unclear if this has something to do with the fact that the Rome photo shoot was a disaster.
We are left in doubt whether the whole Grace-Anna dynamic was real. Coddington must know a thing or two about clawing ones way to and staying on top, since she's been at the top of her stylist-field for 15 or 20 of the 40 years that she is a stylist. So I really don't know if a: Coddington is such a victim as she seems, and b: Wintours praise of Coddington at the end is real.
The Melancholic Alcoholic