Blu-ray Review: Madonna’s ‘W.E.’ Fails to Explore Its Alleged Subject

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly versionE-mail page to friendE-mail page to friendPDF versionPDF version
No votes yet

CHICAGO – Madonna’s “W.E.” completes a trilogy of lackluster Oscar bait released last year by the Weinstein Company. Each film squandered potentially fascinating subject matter by upstaging it with pointless framing devices. Imagine if the majority of “Titanic” followed Bill Paxton on his self-centered quest for the diamond. That would surely have amounted to the most boring three-hour epic in history.

“My Week With Marilyn” was the best of the three Weinstein duds, if only because it embraced its status as inconsequential fluff. Yet it was maddening to see Marilyn Monroe play second fiddle to a dull young admirer. The Margaret Thatcher that received the majority of screen time in “The Iron Lady,” was a wispy, inoffensive ghost of her former self, thus enabling her controversial political career to be left offscreen. Why does the most interesting character have to remain an enigma confined to insufficient montages?

HollywoodChicago.com Blu-ray Rating: 2.0/5.0
Blu-ray Rating: 2.0/5.0

The exact same thing happens in “W.E.,” a would-be romance that half-heartedly attempts to stage the epic love affair between King Edward VIII (James D’Arcy) and an American woman, Wallis Simpson (Andrea Riseborough). Edward ultimately gave up the throne in order to marry Wallis, leaving his stuttering brother to take speaking lessons from Geoffrey Rush in “The King’s Speech.” Yet Madonna argues that Wallis’s sacrifice was just as great since she had to give up her privacy and freedom to become an internationally criticized celebrity (much like Madonna). What was it about their shared passion for one another that caused Edward to move mountains and Wallis to resign herself to a life of entrapment (in many ways, she’s a precursor to Bella Swan)? This story could’ve inspired one of the great screen romances, but Madonna’s ambition doesn’t reach nearly that high. Her subject of interest is not Wallis so much as it is her own interest in Wallis. Madonna isn’t a gifted enough filmmaker to truly investigate the minds and hearts of these larger-than-life historical figures, so instead of placing the couple front and center, she views them through the adoring eyes of an unhappily married New Yorker, Wally (Abbie Cornish). Wally’s story takes place in 1998 while Wallis and Edward’s relationship spans several decades. The juxtaposition of these parallel timelines doesn’t get the audience any closer to understanding the romance that the film had promised to explore.

Oscar Isaac and Abbie Cornish star in Madonna’s W.E.
Oscar Isaac and Abbie Cornish star in Madonna’s W.E.
Photo credit: Anchor Bay Entertainment

As Wally drifts through a museum exhibition of Wallis and Edward’s priceless belongings, while catching the wandering eye of a smitten security guard, Evgeni (Oscar Isaac), she discovers that the grand couple’s affair wasn’t such a fairy tale after all. That’s about as insightful as this film gets. Riseborough and D’Arcy have such little screen time that they strain to make the most of their few scenes. D’Arcy is particularly touching whenever his character is forced to confront the turbulent emotions brewing beneath his poised features. His slender physicality makes him an absolutely perfect choice to play Anthony Perkins/Norman Bates in Sacha Gervasi’s upcoming film about the making of “Psycho.” Since Riseborough is often required to play Wally’s imagined version of Wallis, she has barely any opportunity to make her character a credible human in her own right. There’s no indication of what attracted these lovers to one another in the first place. The film is so busy hopping from one time period to the next that it never does any of them justice. It would’ve helped if the parallel love stories reflected each other in poignant or provocative ways. It’s clear from the get-go that Wally will leave her abusive husband (Richard Coyle) to be with Evgeni, and Madonna reflects Wally’s torment in the abuse received by Wallis during her first marriage. Yet Wallis didn’t leave her first husband for Edward, she left a good man, Ernest (David Harbour), who genuinely cared for her. As Wallis flees to live the dream with Edward, our sympathies remain with Ernest.

W.E. was released on Blu-ray and DVD on May 1, 2012.
W.E. was released on Blu-ray and DVD on May 1, 2012.
Photo credit: Anchor Bay Entertainment

It must be said that even in a film as bad as this, Cornish proves to be one of the most riveting actresses of her generation. I cared about her enough to wish she was inhabiting a role worthy of her talents. Yet Wally is merely a melodramatic distraction from the real story in “W.E.,” thus leaving us to wonder why Madonna bothered to make it at all. In the aftermath of her divorce from Guy Ritchie, perhaps Madonna was eager to make a film about a woman trapped in an unhappy relationship. The closest cinematic relative to this vanity project would be Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette,” a vastly superior yet similarly frustrating period piece that favored opulent costumes and stylized attitude over substantial characterizations.

Yet at least Coppola managed to cleverly fuse her own coming-of-age tale (as the daughter of Hollywood royalty) with that of Antoinette, thus bringing added poignance to her heroine’s plight. The expectations that weighed upon her shoulders when she took on the role of Michael’s daughter in “The Godfather: Part III,” coupled with the avalanche of criticism that she weathered upon the film’s release, made Coppola the ideal person to tackle an Antoinette biopic. Madonna’s life in the limelight would seem to have given her an uncommon understanding of Wallis’s suffering, but her sorrows are merely skimmed by the underachieving script.

“W.E.” is presented in 1080p High Definition (with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio), accompanied by English and Spanish subtitles, and includes a 22-minute making-of featurette that unsurprisingly spends a bulk of its time discussing Madonna’s fashion aesthetic. Riseborough underwent no less than 50 costume changes throughout the picture, while hat designer Stephen Jones was given a cute walk-on cameo. Madonna and her crew repeatedly claim that they didn’t want to make their film only about Wallis Simpson, as if such a goal was somehow simpleminded. The director notes that her background in dance inspired the film’s conspicuous camera movement. As in “The Iron Lady,” the camera in “W.E.” is always in motion—winding around tree trunks and floating over canopies of umbrellas—but no amount of movement can make up for a stagnant plot.

‘W.E.’ is released by Anchor Bay Home Entertainment and stars Abbie Cornish, Andrea Riseborough, James D’Arcy, Oscar Isaac, Richard Coyle, David Harbour, James Fox and Judy Parfitt. It was written by Madonna and Alek Keshishian and directed by Madonna. It was released on May 1st, 2012. It is rated R.

HollywoodChicago.com staff writer Matt Fagerholm

By MATT FAGERHOLM
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
matt@hollywoodchicago.com

PDLM's picture

I couldn’t disagree with

I couldn’t disagree with you more.

I expected W.E to be a bad movie, but in fact, I loved it.

If you expected a Hollywoodian movie, and those are the kinds you like, you won’t enjoy W.E for its European pace and style. Madonna is an European filmmaker. Her two directorial efforts (Filth And Wisdom
and W.E) are proof of that.

W.E was beautifully filmed, which shows Madonna does have a great eye as a director. Everything about the movie is great.

Unlike what you said, I feel Madonna did manage to realize on film one of the greatest love stories ever known. And she did it all with good taste. She didn’t over-extend dramatic scenes (in search of easy tears), she didn’t over-extend the violent scenes… it was all just right.

I think YOU failed to understand the purpose of the movie: you say it’s “understanding the romance” (between Wallis and Edward), but in fact, it was not. From the very beginning, I understood that the movie was about Wallis Simpson and her tragedies (the movie starts with one of them).

I don’t think she intended to explore the “romance of W.E” as the center of the movie, but to show Wallis Simpson’s side of the story. And the director managed to do so with style and good taste.paws

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

User Login

Free Giveaway Mailing

TV, DVD, BLU-RAY & THEATER REVIEWS

  • Manhunt

    CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on March 21st, 2024, reviewing the new streaming series “Manhunt” – based on the bestseller by James L. Swanson – currently streaming on Apple TV+.

  • Topdog/Underdog, Invictus Theatre

    CHICAGO – When two brothers confront the sins of each other and it expands into a psychology of an entire race, it’s at a stage play found in Chicago’s Invictus Theatre Company production of “Topdog/Underdog,” now at their new home at the Windy City Playhouse through March 31st, 2024. Click TD/UD for tickets/info.

Advertisement



HollywoodChicago.com on Twitter

archive

HollywoodChicago.com Top Ten Discussions
tracker