Movie reviews
Co-written by Madonna and Alek Keshishian, and directed by Madonna, W.E. beautifully captures the dilemma Simpson finds herself in: besotted by the handsome prince, seduced by his aristocratic world, and yet married twice already, Simpson is given a sympathetic, poignant reading by Riseborough, albeit one that reeks of sex appeal and smouldering lust. D’Arcy is appropriately raffish and regal as the conflicted Edward, yet the pair bond wonderfully well, their scenes together exuding a potent chemistry that is all the more intoxicating for our foreknowledge of their future travails as love’s exiles. Unfortunately, W.E. is framed by a far less impressive story in which contemporary New York housewife Wally (Abbie Cornish) swoons over Simpson’s beautiful clothes and accessories, a device which allows Madonna to indulge in the frequent flashbacks to the altogether more glamorous and fascinating romance of Wallis and Edward. Wally’s function is to provide a drab contrast to the sparkling Wallis, and to suggest that even the most ordinary of women are entitled to look to Wallis Simpson for inspiration, but Cornish, who is entirely competent in what is essentially a pathfinding role, succeeds a little too well in convincing us that Simpson’s real-life fairytale is the only story worth telling.
EXTENDED flashbacks are also the order of the day in J. Edgar (12A), as an aging Edgar Hoover (Leonardo DiCaprio) dictates his memoirs to a young FBI agent, in the process offering a very personal insight into the life of the most famous American lawman of the 20th century. Director Clint Eastwood revels in the faux-Dirty Harry exploits of Hoover as the young man attempts to stamp his authority on the embryonic FBI. Along the way Hoover amassed files on virtually every person of importance in the US, including a number of presidents and their wives, although the central irony of the movie, is the extraordinary length to which Hoover went to protect his own secrets, and especially his sexuality. A powerful central performance by DiCaprio creates an intriguingly flawed Hoover, and he gets strong support from Armie Hammer as Hoover’s life-long partner Clyde Tolson, and Naomi Watts as his long-suffering secretary, Helen Gandy.
