It's not even out yet, but already Madonna's W.E. faces a rough ride. Its festival reviews were largely negative – in a critique for this paper, Xan Brooks described it as "a primped and simpering folly" and "extraordinarily silly, preening [and] fatally mishandled", while adding that Madonna's direction is "so all over the shop that it barely qualifies as direction at all".
But is this really the case? Is W.E. really going to be as bad as all that? After all, the film is clearly a labour of love for Madonna – and people certainly like Madonna – so maybe W.E. will connect with audiences more than critics?
Luckily, a new trailer for W.E. has just been released, allowing us to see exactly what sort of film it's going to be. Let's take a closer look …
1) The year is 1936. The man who would be Edward VIII meets a divorced American socialite named Wallis Simpson. He is charming and rakish, she honks on about being cold because she is vulgar and from the colonies. Nevertheless, the chemistry is undeniable. So far, W.E. has all the trappings of a beautiful love story.
2) And here they are again, their attraction growing as they frolic in the surf together. The nearest cinematic equivalent to this scene is probably Madonna's Swept Away – although this looks much better, largely because it's based on real-life events and also because Guy Ritchie hasn't directed it.
3) Meanwhile, back in Britain, George V grows ill and inches towards death. If you saw The King's Speech, you'll know that his death was borne from disappointment that one of his sons couldn't talk properly. However, W.E. contests that it was actually because his other son was sticking it to a colonial. That's a level of historical accuracy you weren't expecting from a Madonna film, isn't it?
4) But Edward and Wallis don't care. They're living it up in Europe. And, you have to admit, Madonna's got the period detail spot on. Possibly less so the scene where Wallis dances to the Sex Pistols with an African tribesman, but here it looks lovely.
5) The Edward and Mrs Simpson story only makes up half of W.E. – in the rest of it a Wallis fanatic, played by Abbie Cornish, visits an auction of her memorabilia that took place in 1998. Again, this is clever work from Madonna. It's just like the framing device used in Titanic – people loved Titanic – but better, because Abbie Cornish is young and pretty and not a manky old woman. Genius.
6) When I said that W.E. was a labour of love for Madonna, this is what I was talking about. She clearly sees a bond between Wallis and herself. In this scene, the scandal reaches such a level that Wallis finds herself hounded by the paparazzi. And, if you think about it, this is just like the treatment Madonna received that time she put on a funny bra and danced around quite near the pope once.
7) Similarly, news of the affair ignites the British press and Wallis finds herself being confronted by news of the scandal everywhere she goes. This must have been exactly what it was like for Madonna after she fell off that horse that time. However, interesting as it is to see Madonna reflect on her life through a historical figure, this alone might not capture the public's imagination. What could?
8) Oh, this is better. This is brilliant. Look, it's a microphone. Just like the microphone from The King's Speech. This means that W.E. will be just like The King's Speech. People liked The King's Speech, didn't they? Of course they did. And W.E. is going to be just like that. Perfect.
9) And then, right at the end, Abbie Cornish says: "The whole world turned against her, but she never backed down." Again, this is probably about Madonna. Maybe she's remembering the time she made that cameo in the James Bond film?
So, far from being the disaster that everyone predicted, it turns out that W.E. is basically The King's Speech, but secretly about Madonna. Brilliant. Count me in.
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment