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Movie Review
Aug. 13th, 2008 09:50 pmSo, I finally gave in and watched "The Devil Wears Prada" this Monday. I had been resisting because I read the book and enjoyed it so much that I didn't want the movie to ruin it for me. There are so many people who have said that the book was badly written or vindictive or insipid, but I entirely disagree. I thought the book was fine. The writing didn't distract me from the story at all, and I cried at the end. Happy tears.
However, it's been four years since I read the book, and it has faded enough that I am no longer worried about ruining it. In addition, I've been reading fanfic for it. I was really surprised when i saw the first femslash fic for DWP. The pairing itself (Miranda/Andy) was also a surprise, because in the book there wasn't a lot of opportunity for such an idea. It was true that Andy's relationship with Nate was minimal and pointless, as was her relationship with Christian, but the book was written in such a arch single POV style that there was very little room for Andy to have an honest affectionate relationship with anyone, even herself.
The plot of DWP the book was about a girl who brushes against the dark side of her soul. We get to see her spiraling downwards and enjoying the ride, and when she realizes what an awful person she's become, that's when she pulls out. To my surprise the plot of the movie was entirely different. Yes, many of the plot points were the same (although the screenwriters changing her friend Lily from a struggling grad student of Russian Literature into a gallery assistant struck a blow to my heart and to all the hearts of academia-lovers everywhere), but the arc the screenwriters decided to focus on was not on Andy's internal development/deterioration, but rather the development of the relationship between Andy and Miranda.
First of all, thank you Meryl Streep, who made Miranda Priestly into a real person rather than a Cruella DeVille. (I love Meryl Streep. I saw her speak in person once, accidentally, and ended up crying in the back of the auditorium standing next to a sunglasses-wearing security guard, at her just being herself. She's wonderfully articulate and smart. And I'm blaming both instances of crying in this post on out-of-whack hormones from being sick.)
Miranda could have been played flat, or she could have been filmed flat, but both Ms. Streep and the cinematographer allowed Miranda to have her little reaction shots, checking out Andy's ass, or showing her bemused approval. Instead of Andy being victorious over a woman carved from stone, she's winning her affection and favor, and because Miranda really does grow to like her, to respect and trust her with her personal life, the story changes. No longer is it about one girl and her soul. the story becomes an odd sort of romantic comedy.
The fact is: the intimacy in their relationship is canon. It's not a sexual intimacy, but it's very clear that there is a certain amount of affection there, and it is only in the climax in Paris where this has some false notes.
First of all, Andy's wide eyed impassivity in the scene where Miranda is in her bathrobe is wrong. it's not wrong for the book, where she never really engaged even when intimacy was offered, but after all the struggles Andy has made for her boss, she really needed to be more bewildered, no, shocked at the breakdown. She needed to be more responsive to Miranda's pain. Second: the leaving scene. there was nothing wrong with the acting there, but really WTF! She's laughing and tossing her phone away because of what? Because she couldn't do it anymore? Because they lightened a lot of the moments where Andy comes face to face with her worst self, my sympathies fell with Miranda there. She was being abandoned. Andy was just walking away from her after her husband had walked away, after she had just barely fought off being kicked out of her job for someone younger. And she straightens up and does it herself, just like she's always been able to do, but she shouldn't have had to. I don't respect Andy's decision to just walk away without giving notice or a reason or even a hint. In the book her friend had gotten into a car accident which is much more understandable, but in the movie she had just done everything she could to help her boss, her boss had given her insight into her personal life, and bang, she cuts it out. The fact that Miranda gives her a job recommendation and then almost smiles at her when she's waving like an idiot on the sidewalk suggests an understanding of such depth and meaning that it doesn't require words. So yeah, totally shagging. :)
All in all, "The Devil Wears Prada" (the movie) gets a 9/10 and 2 femslashy thumbs up!
The book gets a 10/10 for chic/k lit
However, it's been four years since I read the book, and it has faded enough that I am no longer worried about ruining it. In addition, I've been reading fanfic for it. I was really surprised when i saw the first femslash fic for DWP. The pairing itself (Miranda/Andy) was also a surprise, because in the book there wasn't a lot of opportunity for such an idea. It was true that Andy's relationship with Nate was minimal and pointless, as was her relationship with Christian, but the book was written in such a arch single POV style that there was very little room for Andy to have an honest affectionate relationship with anyone, even herself.
The plot of DWP the book was about a girl who brushes against the dark side of her soul. We get to see her spiraling downwards and enjoying the ride, and when she realizes what an awful person she's become, that's when she pulls out. To my surprise the plot of the movie was entirely different. Yes, many of the plot points were the same (although the screenwriters changing her friend Lily from a struggling grad student of Russian Literature into a gallery assistant struck a blow to my heart and to all the hearts of academia-lovers everywhere), but the arc the screenwriters decided to focus on was not on Andy's internal development/deterioration, but rather the development of the relationship between Andy and Miranda.
First of all, thank you Meryl Streep, who made Miranda Priestly into a real person rather than a Cruella DeVille. (I love Meryl Streep. I saw her speak in person once, accidentally, and ended up crying in the back of the auditorium standing next to a sunglasses-wearing security guard, at her just being herself. She's wonderfully articulate and smart. And I'm blaming both instances of crying in this post on out-of-whack hormones from being sick.)
Miranda could have been played flat, or she could have been filmed flat, but both Ms. Streep and the cinematographer allowed Miranda to have her little reaction shots, checking out Andy's ass, or showing her bemused approval. Instead of Andy being victorious over a woman carved from stone, she's winning her affection and favor, and because Miranda really does grow to like her, to respect and trust her with her personal life, the story changes. No longer is it about one girl and her soul. the story becomes an odd sort of romantic comedy.
The fact is: the intimacy in their relationship is canon. It's not a sexual intimacy, but it's very clear that there is a certain amount of affection there, and it is only in the climax in Paris where this has some false notes.
First of all, Andy's wide eyed impassivity in the scene where Miranda is in her bathrobe is wrong. it's not wrong for the book, where she never really engaged even when intimacy was offered, but after all the struggles Andy has made for her boss, she really needed to be more bewildered, no, shocked at the breakdown. She needed to be more responsive to Miranda's pain. Second: the leaving scene. there was nothing wrong with the acting there, but really WTF! She's laughing and tossing her phone away because of what? Because she couldn't do it anymore? Because they lightened a lot of the moments where Andy comes face to face with her worst self, my sympathies fell with Miranda there. She was being abandoned. Andy was just walking away from her after her husband had walked away, after she had just barely fought off being kicked out of her job for someone younger. And she straightens up and does it herself, just like she's always been able to do, but she shouldn't have had to. I don't respect Andy's decision to just walk away without giving notice or a reason or even a hint. In the book her friend had gotten into a car accident which is much more understandable, but in the movie she had just done everything she could to help her boss, her boss had given her insight into her personal life, and bang, she cuts it out. The fact that Miranda gives her a job recommendation and then almost smiles at her when she's waving like an idiot on the sidewalk suggests an understanding of such depth and meaning that it doesn't require words. So yeah, totally shagging. :)
All in all, "The Devil Wears Prada" (the movie) gets a 9/10 and 2 femslashy thumbs up!
The book gets a 10/10 for chic/k lit
