W.E. (The Weinstein Company)

W.E.

Studio: The Weinstein Company

Dec 09, 2011 By Chris Tinkham Web Exclusive

Andrea Riseborough, a chameleonic English actress who earned a BAFTA nomination for her lead performance in the 2008 BBC film, Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley, is bewitching as Wallis Simpson in Madonna's second directorial effort. Simpson was the American socialite whose affair with Edward VIII led to his abdication of the British throne in 1936.

Diverting from the traditional biopic route, Madonna and co-writer Alek Keshishian (the Harvard grad Madonna handpicked to direct her 1991 doc, Truth or Dare) incorporate a parallel, fictional plot inspired by the 1998 Sotheby's New York auction of Wallis and Edward's personal items. Wally (Abbie Cornish), a childless and neglected wife of a prominent New York shrink, is obsessed with Wallis' story, playing it out in her head while spending afternoons at the auction house, gazing at the pieces on display.

What could have been an enthralling companion film to The King's Speech is instead an occasionally preposterous but never dull mess that—with its unrelenting music, multiple film stocks, and at times dismal dialogue—vacillates between Sofia Coppola's swooning affection for luxury and Guy Ritchie's ham-fisted penchant for bombast. (www.we-movie.com)

Author rating: 5/10

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Average reader rating: 7/10