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W.E.2011 | 119 min | R | 2.39:1
It’s been proven on numerous occasions that Madonna cannot act. It was proven in 2008 that Madonna couldn’t direct with the rambling “Filth and Wisdom.” “W.E.” is the pop legend’s attempt to be taken seriously as a film artist, selecting a sweeping love story of impossible refinement and sacrifice to study, with an intoxicating historical context to keep her on task. Alas, the big screen just isn’t the proper outlet for Madonna’s majesty, as “W.E.” is a hopelessly distanced museum piece attempting to pass itself as a heaving emotional event, finding the moviemaker in a wandering mood of exploration with a tale that all but demands the most enveloping moments of screen intimacy. 
In 1998, Wally (Abbie Cornish) is a lonely woman married to an alcoholic philanderer. Using her connections to Sotheby’s, Wally spends her days inspecting items from an upcoming auction offering the belongings of Prince Edward (James D’Arcy) and his controversial wife, American Wallis Simpson (Andrea Riseborough). Drunk on the idea of their fairy tale romance, Wally lose herself in daydreams, making a connection to cultured guard Evgeni (Oscar Isaac) as she obsessively tours the collection. Imagining an air of sophistication and royal influence, Wally discovers time shared between Edward and Wallis wasn’t always golden, learning of impossible strife and familial suicide as the two attempted to make a life for themselves after Edward abdicated the throne to be with his love. Written by Madonna and her “Truth or Dare” director Alex Keshishian, “W.E.” is an admirable attempt to do something mesmerizing with history, developing a connection between the fictional world of Wally and Evgeni and the scandalous one inhabited by Wallis and Edward. Of course, it’s a bond built on an assumption of happiness, finding Wally lost in the period fantasy to help cope with her current woes, facing infertility and abuse issues with her hateful husband, turning to Evgeni’s gentle concern for comfort. The character purposely lives in a fog, with her mind focused intently on the courtship of Edward and Wallis, using research and a sense of touch to transport herself back to an allegedly simpler era of elegance, hypnotized by the jewels, furniture, and fabrics she romanticizes at the auction house. To Wally, the royal couple is the epitome of elegance and devotion, with Edward tossing away his noble future to remain with his woman. 
There’s an undeniable strength to the film’s deconstruction of a fairy tale romance, and it’s a theme I wish was threaded throughout the entire picture, carrying a lasting sting to support a sense of substance to an otherwise shallow event. Madonna being Madonna, “W.E.” is more consumed with visual stylistics, production design, and costuming, filling the frame with extraordinary ornamentation that’s almost always more interesting than the drama unfolding. This is a gorgeous effort, with mathematical make-up work and a fetishistic observance of period detail, yet the tech credits have nothing to hang on, smothered by disorienting editing by Danny Tull and the script’s lack of momentum, which does little to advance Wally and Wallis through their domestic trials. “W.E.” is a film that lingers on nothingness, praying for identifiable mood. Considering her glorious career in music, Madonna should know to never hold a pose for too long. Tears are shed, women are beaten, and time lurches between the 1930s and the 1990s, yet little actually occurs in the movie, which loses narrative concentration in a hurry. 
The performances provide further disruption, with Riseborough a sparkling screen presence who does wonders to snap “W.E.” out of its trance, also skilled in emotional amplification to solidify the complexity of Wallis’s time with Edward. Clad in the finest outfits and wielding an abrasive American accent, Riseborough is alive in a feature that rewards passive behavior, also achieving plausible chemistry with D’Arcy, who also delivers commendable work as the tortured King Edward VIII. Less inspiring is Cornish, who’s flat and unappealing as Wally, powerless to communicate the inner turmoil of the troubled character, stumbling around the frame to express the character’s weak-ankled woe. It’s uninteresting work, paired with a comatose Isaac, who also looks for meaningfulness in stares and stances. Although a story explored in numerous television and screen efforts, “W.E.” promises a dissection of obsession and unreality in the opening scenes that never comes to fruition. Madonna doesn’t supply the attentiveness needed to feel the tensions suggested and the torment displayed, rendering this ambitious historical spin aloof and uninformative. Starring: Abbie Cornish, Andrea Riseborough, James D'Arcy, Katie McGrath Director: Madonna » See full cast & crew |
 
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