W.E. DVD
Starring: Abbie Cornish, Andrea Riseborough, Oscar Isaac, James D'Arcy, Richard Coyle
Director: Madonna
Rating: 2.5/5
Madonna is back for another stab at directing and this time around she bring the love story between Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII to life.
Caught in a loveless Manhattan marriage, abused and frustrated Wally (Cornish) obsesses over Wallis Simpson (Riseborough), the stylish American divorcee who captured the heart of Edward the VIII (D’Arcy) who abdicated the throne as King of England.
As the Duchess of Windsor, Wallis spends the rest of her life in the glare of celebrity exile.
Inspired by the Duchess’ determination to pursue love in the face of social exile, Wally escapes into the arms of another man (Isaac) whose love sets her free.
W.E. is an incredibly ambitious movie and that is it's major downfall as there is just too much going on as it jumps backwards and forwards between the past and modern day.
By following multiple stories and trying to bring all the strings together Madonna shows her inexperience as she fails to tell either story well - which is a major shame.
Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII is one of the great love stories of all time and a story that changed the course of British history and yet their relationship isn't really explored.
Wallis didn't have a great relationship with Edward's brother and sister in law and that is only lightly touched upon, these elements could have made for a very interesting and emotional story.
And the modern day story suffers from the same problem as everything is just rushed; Wally's desire for a baby, her husband's drinking, domestic abuse don't play a big enough part in this movie.
You just feel that under the direction of someone who has far more experience then this could have been very successful - although why the story of Wallis and Edward had to be mixed with a modern day tale is anyone's guess.
However the film does look stunning, particularly the Wallis and Edward story, and you can see that a lot of time and thought has gone into the costumes and the sets to really bring that era alive.
But W.E. is a movie that concentrates more on the glamour of the story and the look of the film rather than really delving into two incredibly emotional and powerful stories.
Because of all the jumping around between stories and ears the movie really does suffer major pacing problems and you feel like you are not given time to get to know these potentially wonderful characters.
W.E. is not as bad as everyone makes out and if an unknown filmmaker had attempted this rather than Madonna it would probably would have been looked upon more kindly.
But the film does have major flaws, the main one being that neither one of the stories is developed fully and the characters have not been brought to life in the manner in which they should have.
But this is not down to the actors, who all give fine performances, it's just that the script really is a little lacking and falls a bit flat.
W.E. is out on DVD & Blu-Ray now
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Abbie Cornish Madonna