(Madman)

Cinéma vérité portrait of chilly Vogue Editor-In-Chief Anna Wintour

Ice queen of American Vogue Anna Wintour is the subject of this documentary, chronicling the creative development of the September 2007 issue (ultimately weighing in at just under five pounds and with a record-breaking 840 pages). Wintour, who was fictitiously portrayed in Lauren Weisberger’s roman à clef The Devil Wears Prada, is the person on whom the entire direction of the magazine hangs. A great deal of controversy has surrounded Wintour – her promotion of fur has attracted the wrath of PETA and her aloof, demanding manner has turned her into a creature of mythical proportions, a gorgon with a page-boy bob. The film is a more personal portrait than these images would suggest. Filmmaker R.J. Cutler (who produced D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus’ great Clinton campaign pic The War Room) paints a surprisingly sympathetic portrait of Wintour, a woman on the verge of tears as she describes how her brothers and sisters find her career choice a joke. Don’t get me wrong, Wintour would be a frightfully intimidating person to work for, but Cutler uncovers vulnerability in her bashful smile and her small, birdlike appearance – she’s a million miles removed from Meryl Streep’s haughty monster. That said, she puts a great deal of people through the emotional wringer, not least the magazine’s creative director Grace Coddington. Dismissing beautiful $50,000 photo shoots with a withering glance, Wintour breaks the red-headed stalwart’s heart on more than one occasion in the film – that said, Coddington appears to be the person she most relates with on the Vogue staff and their tense relationship is ultimately quite touching. The DVD is loaded with extras, including a bunch of deleted scenes. It’s going to resonate particularly well with fashionistas, but anyone who enjoys glimpsing behind the mask of one of media’s most influential figures will get a kick out of The September Issue.

****

MATT THROWER

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