Well,this new Sherlock Holmes is very new. Gone is the Basil Rathbone dignity and cool cogitation accompanied by an oafish or pedestrian Dr. Watson. Here is an English public schoolboy duo, delighting in each other's idiosyncrasies and quite a lot of blokey mayhem. It hasn't quite crept into the 21st Century - the women are very wicked or very good and both are very beautiful and astonishingly over made up but it is a real 'shot in the arm' so to speak and genuinely exciting.
Apart from Robert Downey Jnr's beautiful copy of an English accent, there is Guy Ritchie's take on Victorian violence which gives the rather slight leading man a sense of real threat and the fights a horrifying structure. As the pair meander through the highways and low roads of London, the CGI builds a wonderful vision of the city which has been the back drop for so many familiar tales. What a feast Dickens would have made of this with the murky waters of the Thames and all its elaborate grubby shipping springing to life. You can almost see Abel Magwitch scudding past in another small vessel as they build up to the ending.
You do get the idea that Jude Law and Robert Downey Jnr enjoyed working together - I thought I saw a smile that seemed to me like a real 'corpse' near the end but it only makes the japes jollier. I enjoyed the dismantling of the creepy events in a wonderful period style dissection near the end but the opening scenes were really stunning. A black carriage hurries through the narrow darkened streets while a figure runs parallel to it - they approach a gateway - a lead horse rears up but the momentum carries the contraption through and they hurry onward.
I have driven a horse and carriage and if that had happened to me, I may not have lived to tell the tale.
To see a trailer of 'Sherlock Holmes', click here:
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Prisoner of Time
The first film I ever saw was Hitchcock's 'The Lady Vanishes". The second was 'The Prisoner of Zenda'. Recently I found a cassette of 'The Prisoner of Zenda' and it was startling to realise that the version I remember is the Ronald Colman film of 1937 and that the remake with Deborah Kerr and Stewart Grainger is a shot by shot copy, filmed in 1952.
And what a little horror it is too. I've watched Grainger in wonderful English melodramas where his sincerity and manly bravura suited the medium perfectly and I've even seen him get away with those terrible tights cum pantaloon things they make him wear but as, the lover of Deborah Kerr, he is hopeless. Playing the high born princess doomed to marry the wrong man, Deborah Kerr is dressed in a cross between a Gaiety Girl's ball gown and Dior's 'New Look' with the result that she looks both arch and tarty at the same time. The film has a woeful 'mincing' air and, in one startling sequence during the coronation, the guardsmen launch into a 'Folies Bergere' routine inter cut with location shots of a cannonade! What IS going on?
I think the earlier version is that rare thing, a creature suited to its time. It is set in a fictional small country reflecting the ancient internecine quarrels of the numerous small kingdoms of Eastern Europe with the added forboding of the war with Germany that was shortly to come. Some of the cast would serve in the army for the full duration of WW2 and there is a sense of masculine steel despite the whimsicality of the plot and their diminutive physiques. This strange combination of silliness and muscle seems to lend the whole thing gravitas. Even the costuming is an echo of the Court wear of the 19th century without any of the mawkish Nazi - like outfits of the 50's version.
I suppose, if there is anything for an actor to appreciate in these films, apart from a love of Ronald Colman, it is that there is a time and place for everything, remakes are rubbish and some actors can rise to almost any challenge.
In this excerpt , you can witness the ancient art of making 50 people fill up a palace!
Click here to see the 1937 version of 'The Prisoner of Zenda':
And what a little horror it is too. I've watched Grainger in wonderful English melodramas where his sincerity and manly bravura suited the medium perfectly and I've even seen him get away with those terrible tights cum pantaloon things they make him wear but as, the lover of Deborah Kerr, he is hopeless. Playing the high born princess doomed to marry the wrong man, Deborah Kerr is dressed in a cross between a Gaiety Girl's ball gown and Dior's 'New Look' with the result that she looks both arch and tarty at the same time. The film has a woeful 'mincing' air and, in one startling sequence during the coronation, the guardsmen launch into a 'Folies Bergere' routine inter cut with location shots of a cannonade! What IS going on?
I think the earlier version is that rare thing, a creature suited to its time. It is set in a fictional small country reflecting the ancient internecine quarrels of the numerous small kingdoms of Eastern Europe with the added forboding of the war with Germany that was shortly to come. Some of the cast would serve in the army for the full duration of WW2 and there is a sense of masculine steel despite the whimsicality of the plot and their diminutive physiques. This strange combination of silliness and muscle seems to lend the whole thing gravitas. Even the costuming is an echo of the Court wear of the 19th century without any of the mawkish Nazi - like outfits of the 50's version.
I suppose, if there is anything for an actor to appreciate in these films, apart from a love of Ronald Colman, it is that there is a time and place for everything, remakes are rubbish and some actors can rise to almost any challenge.
In this excerpt , you can witness the ancient art of making 50 people fill up a palace!
Click here to see the 1937 version of 'The Prisoner of Zenda':
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Thinking Woman's Detective
Inspector Montalbano is back! This Italian TV series has the best opening credits for anyone who is interested in Italy, or more specifically Sicily. The combination of 'Montalbano', the epicurean detective (why is it both the Italian detectives I love are so fond of their food?) his assortment of police officers, wonderful gallery of rogues plus the weirdest plotting, make this a real 'get away' night for me. Perhaps it's because the script deals so kindly with human frailties. Strangely enough, there is an underlying sense of decency and almost 'family' values amongst the wreckage Montalbano comes up against. And all set against the spectacular backdrop of Sicily.
I think its worth saying that the writer of the Montalbano novels, 84 year old Sicilian Andrea Camilleri, cut his teeth writing the late great (1964) 'Maigret' TV series. Surely there could not have been a blacker detective other than perhaps 'Callan' yet unlike contemporary detectives, these ones do provoke interest in their private lives. I have often felt like bursting out singing Noel Coward's 'Why Must the Show Go On?' when watching the feeble attempts modern script writers make to get us to care for their plods..."But is it quite fair to ask us to share your dreary private life?"
The beautiful town of 'Vigata' shown in the opening sequence is actually Porto Empedocle and I don't know what else you need to encourage a trip to Southern Sicily and to the SBS screenings except perhaps the marvelous choice of Luca Zingaretti in the leading role. This is a series written by grown ups, played by grown ups and suited to everybody. Oh wonder of wonders!
To see the opening of 'Inspector Montalbano', click here:
I think its worth saying that the writer of the Montalbano novels, 84 year old Sicilian Andrea Camilleri, cut his teeth writing the late great (1964) 'Maigret' TV series. Surely there could not have been a blacker detective other than perhaps 'Callan' yet unlike contemporary detectives, these ones do provoke interest in their private lives. I have often felt like bursting out singing Noel Coward's 'Why Must the Show Go On?' when watching the feeble attempts modern script writers make to get us to care for their plods..."But is it quite fair to ask us to share your dreary private life?"
The beautiful town of 'Vigata' shown in the opening sequence is actually Porto Empedocle and I don't know what else you need to encourage a trip to Southern Sicily and to the SBS screenings except perhaps the marvelous choice of Luca Zingaretti in the leading role. This is a series written by grown ups, played by grown ups and suited to everybody. Oh wonder of wonders!
To see the opening of 'Inspector Montalbano', click here:
Monday, November 16, 2009
Climbing Higher
People say when they are doing something they particularly like, they can hardly believe it is them and wonder if they will be discovered as an impostor. When I got my first big acting job in a television series, I worried that I would get run over and the feeling of being so lucky would abruptly end.There's a feeling of 'Pinch me, is this happening?' I felt that filming 'Mao's Last Dancer' and, well now there is another landmark.
To celebrate 'Mao's Last Dancer' making $14 million dollars and climbing to the 12th highest grossing Australian film ever, I thought I'd put a selection of interviews of the main cast on the blog. They are attached to mine and contain wonderful insights from Bruce Beresford, Li Cunxin and producer Jane Scott on the casting and making of the movie.
Its especially interesting to hear Madeleine Eastoe talk about her preparation for her first acting role. As a prima ballerina with the Australian ballet, she had no experience of film work before but after working with a coach, she was considered to have mastered the American accent to the extent that the actors from the USA had no idea she was Australian!
I am keeping my fingers crossed that the film climbs up one more level - that will be overtaking the iconic 'Murial's Wedding', the truly fabulous Australian earner.
Also, a reminder that leading man, Chi Cao will be coming to Australia next year to dance in 'The Nutcracker'. Book that one in for an inspiring night.
To see interviews about the filming of 'Mao's Last Dancer', click here:
To celebrate 'Mao's Last Dancer' making $14 million dollars and climbing to the 12th highest grossing Australian film ever, I thought I'd put a selection of interviews of the main cast on the blog. They are attached to mine and contain wonderful insights from Bruce Beresford, Li Cunxin and producer Jane Scott on the casting and making of the movie.
Its especially interesting to hear Madeleine Eastoe talk about her preparation for her first acting role. As a prima ballerina with the Australian ballet, she had no experience of film work before but after working with a coach, she was considered to have mastered the American accent to the extent that the actors from the USA had no idea she was Australian!
I am keeping my fingers crossed that the film climbs up one more level - that will be overtaking the iconic 'Murial's Wedding', the truly fabulous Australian earner.
Also, a reminder that leading man, Chi Cao will be coming to Australia next year to dance in 'The Nutcracker'. Book that one in for an inspiring night.
To see interviews about the filming of 'Mao's Last Dancer', click here:
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Looking for Ludwig
This is a long film for a Beethoven ignoramus. Two hours and twenty minutes, most of which is engaging but the last twenty did start me thinking about the quality of the upholstery.
Nevertheless, it is a fresh light on an old master. As someone who had to climb wooden stairs to an attic to have my piano lessons staring at an enraged Ludwig print...this kindly portrait came as a surprise. And he was quite a looker.
As a young man, the strength and intelligence is obvious in his eyes but also a warmth that is almost never represented in portraiture. The film takes us through his life musically using his work as a guide to his interior life. As always with the masters, the question of finances scurries after him relentlessly but here we are also introduced to his many romances and attempted engagements. Beethoven fell for titled women whose families did not fall for him - who knew that Von and not Van is the sign of aristocracy? -and the strain of his solitary life showed in his work.
As an ignoramus, I had no idea how revolutionary he was, not only in his thoughts as in 'Eroica' but in the techniques he used. Or how competitive in his mastery of the piano,vying with his contempories with extraordinary elaborate musicality. It is as shocking to hear of the performances that did not work as it is surprising to hear that the police were called to one recital at which the reception was so enthusiastic, the audience had to be forced to go home.
The documentary is filled with a delightful array of Ludwig experts, conductors, pianists and scholars, most of whom could have leaped fully formed from a Dickens novel. The entrancing nuttiness of their performances is one of the real highlights for me. Still, I would have liked more of his personal life but where to put it? Those seats were pretty hard at the end.
To see a trailer of 'In Search of Beethoven', click here:
Nevertheless, it is a fresh light on an old master. As someone who had to climb wooden stairs to an attic to have my piano lessons staring at an enraged Ludwig print...this kindly portrait came as a surprise. And he was quite a looker.
As a young man, the strength and intelligence is obvious in his eyes but also a warmth that is almost never represented in portraiture. The film takes us through his life musically using his work as a guide to his interior life. As always with the masters, the question of finances scurries after him relentlessly but here we are also introduced to his many romances and attempted engagements. Beethoven fell for titled women whose families did not fall for him - who knew that Von and not Van is the sign of aristocracy? -and the strain of his solitary life showed in his work.
As an ignoramus, I had no idea how revolutionary he was, not only in his thoughts as in 'Eroica' but in the techniques he used. Or how competitive in his mastery of the piano,vying with his contempories with extraordinary elaborate musicality. It is as shocking to hear of the performances that did not work as it is surprising to hear that the police were called to one recital at which the reception was so enthusiastic, the audience had to be forced to go home.
The documentary is filled with a delightful array of Ludwig experts, conductors, pianists and scholars, most of whom could have leaped fully formed from a Dickens novel. The entrancing nuttiness of their performances is one of the real highlights for me. Still, I would have liked more of his personal life but where to put it? Those seats were pretty hard at the end.
To see a trailer of 'In Search of Beethoven', click here:
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Meryl, I hardly knew ya
Its no surprise that Ms Streep is barely recognisable in this. She is, after all who she is and so the weirdness of this performance in 'Julie and Julia' needs a little investigation.A glimpse of the real Julia Childs gives an idea of why the characterisation can be seen to be extreme at first glance, but not at second. Here was a genuine eccentric and, to my eyes an extremely lovable personality who combined a sort of breezy nuttiness with a great deal of hard work and all with the added benefit of a loyal and loving spouse.
The gorgeous Stanley Tucci steps in for this role and, as a pair he and Streep are a grown up example of lasting love. Odd but workable and very, very watchable. This is in sharp contrast to the younger couple who I found smart and annoyingly neurotic. I loathe cutesypie big city Americans - I would have quite liked to see the end of 'Annie Hall' three seconds after I met her and so, the trials of 'Julie'didn't quite move me as they should. Although I was very moved by the fact that she had acquired such a tolerant husband.
This film is another of Nora Ephron's creations and she has worked with Meryl Streep before in 'Silkwood'and 'Heartburn' but, while Ephron has logged up huge popular hits with 'Harry Met Sally' and 'Sleepless in Seattle', I think this is more in tune with us Baby Boomers. I am slightly ashamed of having loved the older couple so much more and I hope it was not a smug smile I felt forming when the film tells us that the real Julia did not approve of the younger woman's Blog.
Still, you've got to love a tryer and these two women were that...in spades. And have a look at the real Julia below. Despite the 'Noddy in Toyland' music, here was a cook with a great deal of intestinal fortitude.
To see a snippet of Julia Child's TV program, click here:
The gorgeous Stanley Tucci steps in for this role and, as a pair he and Streep are a grown up example of lasting love. Odd but workable and very, very watchable. This is in sharp contrast to the younger couple who I found smart and annoyingly neurotic. I loathe cutesypie big city Americans - I would have quite liked to see the end of 'Annie Hall' three seconds after I met her and so, the trials of 'Julie'didn't quite move me as they should. Although I was very moved by the fact that she had acquired such a tolerant husband.
This film is another of Nora Ephron's creations and she has worked with Meryl Streep before in 'Silkwood'and 'Heartburn' but, while Ephron has logged up huge popular hits with 'Harry Met Sally' and 'Sleepless in Seattle', I think this is more in tune with us Baby Boomers. I am slightly ashamed of having loved the older couple so much more and I hope it was not a smug smile I felt forming when the film tells us that the real Julia did not approve of the younger woman's Blog.
Still, you've got to love a tryer and these two women were that...in spades. And have a look at the real Julia below. Despite the 'Noddy in Toyland' music, here was a cook with a great deal of intestinal fortitude.
To see a snippet of Julia Child's TV program, click here:
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Save this Last Dance
It is always strange to see yourself on screen and this time was no different. Aside from always wanting a sip of the champagne they gave me whenever my character appeared, I think I can say a few balanced things about the film
From the start, the producer and director have treated the story with care and dignity. The opening credits are elegant and apt and lead us into the extraordinary world of Li Cunxin. And, wonder of wonders, they found someone in Chi Cao who could act like a dream and dance as well. It was always in our minds as it was being made that if the leading man failed in either of those roles, there was no film. Well, he didn't.
I know for a fact that Chi had to get up and start his work day at 4am to keep himself fit enough to dance as well as he had to. Considering his work day could end around 7 or 8pm, month after month, it was a marathon.
Added to this the insight of a master director in Bruce Beresford and the Camera skills of Peter James, Music by Chris Gordon and Graham Murphy's Choreography, it is a hymn to perseverance and achievement.The tricky politics are beautifully negotiated so that the stormy seas both China and America sailed during that time are treated with care.
I hope this sets off a tidal wave of interest in Ballet again. To watch these exquisite beings whirl around the sets had something of a dream about it and, hours after I had seen this film I was still in raptures about the blissful movements. The last dance is worth waiting for and it is the sum of all its parts.
To see the Trailer of 'Mao's Last Dancer', click here:
From the start, the producer and director have treated the story with care and dignity. The opening credits are elegant and apt and lead us into the extraordinary world of Li Cunxin. And, wonder of wonders, they found someone in Chi Cao who could act like a dream and dance as well. It was always in our minds as it was being made that if the leading man failed in either of those roles, there was no film. Well, he didn't.
I know for a fact that Chi had to get up and start his work day at 4am to keep himself fit enough to dance as well as he had to. Considering his work day could end around 7 or 8pm, month after month, it was a marathon.
Added to this the insight of a master director in Bruce Beresford and the Camera skills of Peter James, Music by Chris Gordon and Graham Murphy's Choreography, it is a hymn to perseverance and achievement.The tricky politics are beautifully negotiated so that the stormy seas both China and America sailed during that time are treated with care.
I hope this sets off a tidal wave of interest in Ballet again. To watch these exquisite beings whirl around the sets had something of a dream about it and, hours after I had seen this film I was still in raptures about the blissful movements. The last dance is worth waiting for and it is the sum of all its parts.
To see the Trailer of 'Mao's Last Dancer', click here:
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Infant Victoria
Australia's history was once described as like 'the most fabulous lies' and that is often true of real life. It can be so incredible that you cannot put it into drama for fear of being thought unrealistic. Strange but true.
Any life lived the way the royal families in Europe lived is very different to our life today but do we really need to have it mushed up and sweetened so that it barely resembles the original? Here is Victoria stomping around and using modern idioms and sexuality that seems very contemporary to me.
The costumes are magical, the sets and settings superb and they could not have better actors or better performances but I felt spoken down to. I saw a documentary about the early life of the young queen which was so much more interesting that I wish they had stuck to the original. The final insult comes with a chatty little pop song about 'true hearts' at the end.
BUT, and its a BIG one, the performances are fab. Both Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend are fabulous as the Queen and Prince Albert and they have a wonderful supporting cast including Miranda Richardson, Harriet Walter and Jim Broadbent. Emily Blunt keeps that lustrous balance between an imperious woman and a young girl in love to a tee and all power to her.
It is a great romance told romantically and at the very least it should stir some historical curiosity about the closeness of the European royals. Here is a scene in which the young queen tries to assert her authority over her husband which I like not only because Emily Blunt plays it so beautifully but because I wish I had the authority of a queen too some times. Even so, I wouldn't be using cockney terms like 'sorted' for all the tea in China.
To see a scene from 'Young Victoria', click here:
Any life lived the way the royal families in Europe lived is very different to our life today but do we really need to have it mushed up and sweetened so that it barely resembles the original? Here is Victoria stomping around and using modern idioms and sexuality that seems very contemporary to me.
The costumes are magical, the sets and settings superb and they could not have better actors or better performances but I felt spoken down to. I saw a documentary about the early life of the young queen which was so much more interesting that I wish they had stuck to the original. The final insult comes with a chatty little pop song about 'true hearts' at the end.
BUT, and its a BIG one, the performances are fab. Both Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend are fabulous as the Queen and Prince Albert and they have a wonderful supporting cast including Miranda Richardson, Harriet Walter and Jim Broadbent. Emily Blunt keeps that lustrous balance between an imperious woman and a young girl in love to a tee and all power to her.
It is a great romance told romantically and at the very least it should stir some historical curiosity about the closeness of the European royals. Here is a scene in which the young queen tries to assert her authority over her husband which I like not only because Emily Blunt plays it so beautifully but because I wish I had the authority of a queen too some times. Even so, I wouldn't be using cockney terms like 'sorted' for all the tea in China.
To see a scene from 'Young Victoria', click here:
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Gently Does It
I started off at a disadvantage with this new series because my reaction to Martin Shaw in Judge John Deed was a bit low key. I like him as an actor but the persistent 'Dear old Chappiness' of the show was underwhelming to me. There is nothing worse than well bred film making and I thought it had that in spades. Not that I object to it in Midsomer Murders but...to each their own.
It seemed to me that Shaw's character as the Judge might be a favourite for him and it would be served up again in the new series. My heart sank when the opening shot had him in his boots in the middle of a river doing a 'spot of fishing'. Not to worry, here's a real actor and so Shaw gives us a quite gentle Gently with a touch of a northern accent, the same doggedness his face always suggests and surprise, surprise - humility. His sidekick is a bumptious annoyance who is redeemed by his youthful insight and glaring character flaws - all calmly pointed out by Gently.
I think it is set in the early 1960's so, as with Mad Men, we have the opportunity to thank our lucky stars that we are in the 21ist century. All the smoking, chauvinist piggery and class structures are carefully folded into the stories - each of which so far, have been surprising and beautifully fitting for the time as I remember it.
Most wonderful is the shooting style. I watched a lot of TV at that time and the producers and cinematographers have captured the 'feel' of the films and drama of the era. There is a sharpness and artistry about the lighting of the actors and the way the camera follows them. Took me back to the marvelous black and white movies of long ago - 'Whistle down the Wind' etc. and the fast paced and curiously well costumed series like 'Danger Man' and 'The Avengers'.
It's great and watch how they include mysteries only just now coming to light - such as the recently discovered Jersey Children's Home scandal which formed the spine of the last episode. And here are Smoking Actors again. In 'The Tree' which we are filming now, the lead actors smoke and the director was smitten with anxiety about it. I must say, it can be a hard habit to kick after a production.
To watch a trailer for the ABC 1 series 'George Gently', click here:
It seemed to me that Shaw's character as the Judge might be a favourite for him and it would be served up again in the new series. My heart sank when the opening shot had him in his boots in the middle of a river doing a 'spot of fishing'. Not to worry, here's a real actor and so Shaw gives us a quite gentle Gently with a touch of a northern accent, the same doggedness his face always suggests and surprise, surprise - humility. His sidekick is a bumptious annoyance who is redeemed by his youthful insight and glaring character flaws - all calmly pointed out by Gently.
I think it is set in the early 1960's so, as with Mad Men, we have the opportunity to thank our lucky stars that we are in the 21ist century. All the smoking, chauvinist piggery and class structures are carefully folded into the stories - each of which so far, have been surprising and beautifully fitting for the time as I remember it.
Most wonderful is the shooting style. I watched a lot of TV at that time and the producers and cinematographers have captured the 'feel' of the films and drama of the era. There is a sharpness and artistry about the lighting of the actors and the way the camera follows them. Took me back to the marvelous black and white movies of long ago - 'Whistle down the Wind' etc. and the fast paced and curiously well costumed series like 'Danger Man' and 'The Avengers'.
It's great and watch how they include mysteries only just now coming to light - such as the recently discovered Jersey Children's Home scandal which formed the spine of the last episode. And here are Smoking Actors again. In 'The Tree' which we are filming now, the lead actors smoke and the director was smitten with anxiety about it. I must say, it can be a hard habit to kick after a production.
To watch a trailer for the ABC 1 series 'George Gently', click here:
Sunday, August 23, 2009
September/ December Issues
Oh Jee, its fascinating to research the redoubtable Anna Wintour only to find a number of boring old farts tut tutting about her age. Namely Mr. Morley Safer from American 60 Minutes who must be a cool eighty if he's a day and I'm glad to say, she lost not one ounce of her cool with him.
I wanted to see this documentary, not only to get a bit of perspective on Meryl Streep's fabulous performance in 'The Devil Wears Prada' but because a friend put me in touch with the concept that its all very well to despise other women for being tough when they have, in fact achieved Olympian heights. It might be sassy and fun to do it from the cute perspective of an infant well, a twenty something girl but what would anybody be like in the same position?
I found Wintour fascinating. Her very guarded self, her deliberately flirtatious persona, her extraordinary figure and taste and her all round composure in what must be an ordeal of a schedule.
She has a rogues gallery of sidekicks to wait on her editorial desk at Vogue who, says Morley Safer, form a posse of "obsequious toadies". I doubt that. I think a non-performing toad in that office would have a shorter life span than a cane toad in a Queensland kitchen and the only likely candidate I could find was a large man of very eccentric habits who seemed to be in a twenty four hour personal operetta.
Grace Coddington is a find - Wintour's seditious friend and talented colleague of uncertain age, whose long red hair and jaunty manner betray her great skill as the Creative Director at Vogue. Starting life as a model in England in the sixties, she ended that career after a terrible motor accident which she still bears the scars of. This does nothing to dull her hands-on delight in her work or her schoolgirl glee when she whispers an aside about the 'headmistress'. Some of this film has a distinct St Trinians air.
There is one jarring note. Wintour likes Starbucks coffee which seems strangely out of place. But, if you're interested in women defying the age and age itself, give this one a go. And not just for the Queen B. either.
To see the trailer of 'September Issue, click here:
I wanted to see this documentary, not only to get a bit of perspective on Meryl Streep's fabulous performance in 'The Devil Wears Prada' but because a friend put me in touch with the concept that its all very well to despise other women for being tough when they have, in fact achieved Olympian heights. It might be sassy and fun to do it from the cute perspective of an infant well, a twenty something girl but what would anybody be like in the same position?
I found Wintour fascinating. Her very guarded self, her deliberately flirtatious persona, her extraordinary figure and taste and her all round composure in what must be an ordeal of a schedule.
She has a rogues gallery of sidekicks to wait on her editorial desk at Vogue who, says Morley Safer, form a posse of "obsequious toadies". I doubt that. I think a non-performing toad in that office would have a shorter life span than a cane toad in a Queensland kitchen and the only likely candidate I could find was a large man of very eccentric habits who seemed to be in a twenty four hour personal operetta.
Grace Coddington is a find - Wintour's seditious friend and talented colleague of uncertain age, whose long red hair and jaunty manner betray her great skill as the Creative Director at Vogue. Starting life as a model in England in the sixties, she ended that career after a terrible motor accident which she still bears the scars of. This does nothing to dull her hands-on delight in her work or her schoolgirl glee when she whispers an aside about the 'headmistress'. Some of this film has a distinct St Trinians air.
There is one jarring note. Wintour likes Starbucks coffee which seems strangely out of place. But, if you're interested in women defying the age and age itself, give this one a go. And not just for the Queen B. either.
To see the trailer of 'September Issue, click here:
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