THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA d: David Frankel
The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Director: David Frankel. Screenplay: Aline Brosh McKenna, from a novel by Lauren Weisberger. Cast: Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Emily Blunt, Adrian Grenier
THE EMPRESS HAS NO CLOTHES
There are two good reasons to watch the otherwise dismal film version of Lauren Weisberger’s 2003 novel The Devil Wears Prada, the story of a young, comely journalist wannabe who lands a job as secretary to a world-class bitch fashionista. (See synopsis.) The two good reasons — neither of which have much on-screen time — are Meryl Streep, as the soft-spoken (but viper-tongued) queen bee of the fashion world, and Stanley Tucci, as the queen bee’s snooty (but kind-hearted) lady-in-waiting who dreams of becoming a fashion queen herself. Apart from those two performers, all The Devil Wears Prada has to offer are tired clichés, unsubstantial acting, and a wardrobe that would befit wedding cakes and circus tents — but not human beings.
Considering the mess it later becomes, The Devil Wears Prada starts out surprisingly well. After a fast-paced montage of female New Yorkers getting ready for work to the sounds of KT Tunstall’s "Suddenly I See," we learn a little about Anne Hathaway’s journalist-turned-secretary, Andy, a young woman who is ambitious but idealistic, and whose unaffected manner is her greatest charm. Meryl Streep, for her part, does a glorious Medusa impersonation that is as hilarious as it is nasty. But once those pesky melodramatic clichés — office rivalries, dejected boyfriend, suffering young career woman, suffering older career woman — start raising their ugly heads, The Devil Wears Prada not only loses its pace, but also any modicum of honesty it might have had.
The film’s chief problem apparently lies with the source material (which I haven’t read) — Weisberger’s semi-autobiographical novel is told through the eyes of the young journalist. Even though director David Frankel and screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna (McKenna received sole screen credit, though numerous other hands worked on the script) have humanized Streep’s fashion queen, their focus and sympathies clearly lie with Andy. Therefore, we are supposed to care for a whiny, subservient young woman whose motto is I Had No Choice — all the while making choices to move up the journalistic ladder no matter the cost to herself and to those around her. Andy’s eagerness to bend over backwards to do exactly what her demanding boss wants — she even finds an advance copy of a precious-as-kryptonite Harry Potter book — makes her only more despicable.
Compounding matters, neither Frankel nor McKenna seem to make up their minds about the glitzy and glamorous world of high fashion: Are those people creating "art you can wear," or are they arbitrary, arrogant, vacuous, and downright tasteless tastemakers whose success is based not on their talent but on their ability to lick the appropriate asses so they can sell themselves and their products to a clueless public? Don’t expect any answers from The Devil Wears Prada, whose makers believe that as long as their film offers a smug happy ending, film audiences won’t care they’ve been watching something made out of cast-off rags. (If you want a truly scathing — and uproarious — look at the fashion world, check out the British TV series Absolutely Fabulous.)
The biggest loser in all this wishy-washiness is Anne Hathaway. Even though the actress performs competently, she is unable to transcend her character’s poorly sketched inner angst. As a result, her initially charming heroine becomes tiresome rather quickly. Not helping matters are the clothes Andy must wear to show the fashion-conscious gals at the office that she can look as awful as the worst of them. Audrey Hepburn might — stress might — have been able to get away with wearing clothes appropriate for an S&M dungeon session; Hathaway just looks silly.
The Devil Wears Prada would have been a much better film had it focused on Meryl Streep’s fashion editor. The woman may be a viper at work and a deflated balloon at home — oh, it’s so lonely for a woman at the top — but at least she doesn’t pretend to be someone she isn’t in order to gain our sympathy.
Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) is a charming, ambitious, and idealistic young woman from the American Midwest who has just graduated from college. Andy now wants to work as a magazine writer in New York City.
When an opening comes up for a position as second assistant to Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), editor of the prestigious fashion magazine "Runway," Andy — even though she has no interest in the fashion industry — applies for the job. That’s because a recommendation from Priestly would open doors anywhere in New York. The high cost of that recommendation, however, becomes apparent right away.
Without ever raising her voice, Miranda uses her poisonous tongue to lash out at her subordinates, all of whom are eager to do whatever the boss wants because she wields the power of life and death over the denizens of the fashion world.
Spending ever more time at work trying to appease her neurotic boss, Andy soon finds herself having problems in her private life. Her boyfriend, Nate (Adrian Grenier), feels neglected, and she even manages to alienate her few friends.
Andy, however, is not the only working woman who suffers. The all-powerful Miranda is powerless to prevent her marriage from disintegrating, even though she is thoroughly dedicated to her two bratty daughters.
Eventually, Andy must choose between her old idealistic self, and her new blindly ambitious self. Does she want to end up like Miranda — rich, powerful, and without a man — or does she want to end up like a real journalist — broke, powerless, and with a cute boyfriend?
Notes:
Background:
Lauren Weisberger once worked as a personal assistant to Vogue editor Anna Wintour. The Devil Wears Prada is a thinly veiled account of Weisberger’s stint at the magazine.
A similar roman à clef came out in Feb. 2007: Bridie Clark’s Because She Can (Warner Books), which was clearly inspired by Clark’s stint as an assistant to disgraced ReganBooks’ editor Judith Regan.
The Devil Wears Prada - The Novel:
"Still, an interesting question emerges if you reverse [Truman] Capote’s dictum [that all literature is gossip] and ask whether all gossip is literature. It’s a question that surrounds the most gossipy novel in recent years, The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger, and percolates within the critical jihad the book ignited at the New York Times. The fact that the paper twice reviewed a literary debut by a previously unknown author would be noteworthy in itself; what’s unprecedented is the fact that its reviewers twice ripped the book to shreds — arguing not simply that it fails as literature, but that it should never have been published in the first place." Mark Goldblatt’s "The Devil & the Gray Lady," at The National Review.
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA – Awards and Nominations
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Well, apparently Streep’s character was much more truthful than the rest of the film which I have yet to see. But I do know that Vogue editor Anna Wintour hath declared war upon St. Streep. Meryl won’t be feautured in Vogue (as if she would have been anyway) because the character was too close to home for Wintour who was once Weisberger’s coworker. Hathaway is a good actress but she frequently delves into cutesy when she is more than capable of handling dramatic roles. But since her success in the Princess Diaries I suppose she isn’t quite yet willing to mess with the formula.
Andy Sach’s was saying that she had no choice, when in fact she chose. Yes. This is made clear in the scene close to the end, where Streep and Hathaway are in the limo and Streep states that Hathaway had already chose to get ahead and make Emily suffer for it. Making the excuse that “she had no choice” merely expresses her naive character which was vital in making the film as brilliant and as interesting as it is.
Well, I part ways with you when it comes to labeling “The Devil Wears Prada” a “brilliant” film.
But perhaps we can agree that “Devil” would have been, shall we say, “brillianter,” had Meryl Streep had a role at least as big as Anne Hathaway’s?
i love this movie not only for streep’s brilliant performance but for anne’s wonderful reactions to everybody reacting to her… reminds me of when i was a legal temp and believe me somebody should make a movie about that experience!