W.E.
Director: Madonna
Year Released: 2011
Rating: 1.0
An American (Abbie Cornish) - who's married to an abusive psychiatrist - becomes obsessed with the life of the woman she was named after, Wallis Simpson (Andrea Riseborough), who famously partnered up with the Duke of Windsor (James D'Arcy). Madonna, still a novice filmmaker, awkwardly flip-flops between time frames to create parallels between the Cornish and Riseborough characters and the result is a total jumble: there to save it from the trash heap of vanity projects are the decent performances and Madonna's (blatant) obsession with fame and notoriety (she clearly sees herself in the Wallis figure). The overall point - that Wallis had as much to lose as the Duke - is questionable, and it's never clear what the Duke saw in Wallis that made him so obsessed with her (though it's never clear why Charles was so fascinated by Camilla either). Oh, British royalty problems....
