Film Review: W.E. (15) (From The Northern Echo)

Film Review: W.E. (15)

4:59pm Thursday 19th January 2012 in Film By Steve Pratt

Rating: 2/5

LIKE The Iron Lady, Madonna’s film about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor shies away from being a straightforward biopic about the love affair that caused a king to give up the throne.

Director Madonna cuts back and forth from the story of the Wallis Simpson’s romance with Edward to a modern – well, 1998 – story about a woman, Wally (Abbie Cornish), in an unhappy marriage who becomes as obsessed with the auction of the Duchess’ possessions as Madonna clearly is with Wallis and her story.

Click here to check showtimes for W.E.

Unfortunately, Wally’s story is a bore as she’s beaten by her husband (Richard Coyle) when not wandering around in expensive lingerie or spending all her time fingering the expensive exhibits at the auction. This cutting back and forth to Wally – who even meets Wallis at one point – become increasingly irritating, especially as it means leaving North-East actress Andrea Riseborough’s beautiful drawn, brittle Wallis – by far the best thing in the movie – and James D’Arcy’s weak-willed Edward.

W. E. is not the disaster Madonna’s detractors predicted but a waste of Riseborough’s performance.