Wonderfully offbeat film!

Really Surprised!

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

This movie obviously had a tremendous budget and no expense was spared in their sets and quality of costumes and locations which are superb and the real 'star' of this movie. It appears that the director really took great pains to ensure authenticity with regard to Wallis Simpson's wardrobe as well as the Royal's wardrobe and their lifestyle. I was quite mesmerized with the laissez faire life that Wallis and what was to be the future King had created and this movie if to be believed portrays it very well. The parallel story in this movie whilst interesting really does not add anything to the already complex and intriguing life of Wallis and Edward; therefore, had the director focused more on W.E., this movie may have been more successful.You can sort of discern in this movie that the Director is 'thinking' out loud to themselves in the way some of the scenes are shot. The director has her actors over emphasize actions in order to convey an emotion that the director thinks is subliminal to the audience when in fact it is just too obvious that the director is a bit immature in their direction. Had this director allowed emotions to develop sincerely without the obvious conjecture of 'set-ups', then again this movie would have been dually successful.

I love period films, especially British period films, so I knew I must see W.E. I think that there's always been some mystery surrounding Wallis Simpson. What kind of woman was she that could make a man renounce his throne? I think history paints her in a very bad light. She was a "Nazi sympathizer" or a "manipulator". Madonna aimed to tell her side of the story with this movie. I can't help but wonder how true it is, but regardless, I really enjoyed it.An interesting aspect of this movie is that it not only tells the story of Wallis and Edward, but it also tells the story of a woman named Wally Winthrop. She's a woman in the 1990s, trapped in a failing marriage, who lives vicariously through the story of Wallis and Edward because she believes that theirs was the great romance of the century. Her story is interesting, not only because Abbie Cornish's acting is heart- wrenchingly moving, but also because she represents a modern-day woman's struggle with the same issues that Wallis herself may have experienced. There were many parallels between the two plots. I think that having the two stories made what could have been a typical bio-flick into something much more interesting.I must mention the actors who played Wallis and Edward, Andrea Riseborough and James D'Arcy. Their portrayals of the characters were so multidimensional. I kept changing my mind about how I felt about them. They were also just so committed to the roles. I watched the special features after the film. The actors talked about all the time they spent training with voice coaches, dance instructors, riding instructors, etiquette coaches, and even a bagpipe instructor. They really immersed themselves into these two people. I really love that about bio-flicks. The level of commitment it takes to become another person is extraordinary. When actors take the time to do so, the result is magical, hence why I love Daniel Day Lewis so much.Anyway, I wanted to write about this movie because it really moved me. I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe it was the woman's perspective, maybe it was the visual richness created by the costumes, sets and makeup, or maybe it was the fabulous acting. Who knows... I loved it. I recommend it to anyone.

I am not a filmmaker, nor would I try to make a film as I do not have the know how and talent, but I do feel that anyone who does make a film or puts on a play which they expect the public to pay good money to see should at least be able to hold one's attention and make it entertaining and understandable. Having said that I should add that the one form of narrative I dislike the most is the splitting of a story into then and now, and intercutting parallel stories where a modern couple play out the same actions as the couple in the past. It is a pretentious conceit and has to be done very, very well or it falls flat. 'Heat and Dust' was such a failure. I loved the 1920's romance, but for the life of me could not see why the modern woman had to have an affair with an Indian just because her aunt had done. The intrusion into the saga of the sorry Windsors by a modern woman with a bullying husband taking up with a Russian security guard was an annoying waste of time and quite frankly should have been cut out entirely, except as a brief prologue and epilogue. The character could have been shown at the beginning looking through the Windsor's effects, musing about them, the action would then have switched to the Windsors, until the abdication where the modern woman would have closed with an epilogue. The worst part was the imagined conversations between Wally and Wallis. I am not sure whether the film was supposed to be about Wally in Mahnhattan and her marital woes, or the Windors. I could not be bothered to time the scenes with a stop watch. Let us just say that it was neither one thing nor the other. I would recommend taking this film back and completely re-editing it with more Wallis and less Wally.

Madonna's second feature as director begins in 1998, where lonely Wally Winthrop (Abbie Cornish) becomes obsessed with the story of King Edward's VIII's abdication of the British throne for a woman he loved, the American divorcée Wallis Simpson (Andrea Riseborough). Wally's personal life is on the cusp of a dramatic change. On the surface, her marriage seems solid; her husband William is a successful therapist and the couple is envied by friends and relatives. But in reality, miscommunication takes the lead during our first encounter with the doctor at a dinner in his honor. Wally is not sitting beside him; and he either doesn't notice or acknowledge her presence. As she says, William is a smart manipulator, "he can use my words against me". He doesn't want her to work, but doesn't want children either. Wally tries to overcome her bitter reality by daydreaming about images from history.Wally ends up spending her long and lonely days at a Sotheby's auction house, looking at objects from the royal estate in Windsor and researching the doomed affair between King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson. The parallel lives meet through the imagination of Willis triggered by an object, a letter or a photo and sometimes an accessory she wears herself. On many occasions, she becomes one with her idol, getting inspired by her strength against all odds.The film cuts between Wally's self-discovery – which is noticed by a widowed Russian intellectual working as a security guard at the auction house – and the glamorous early days of King Edward and Wallis Simpson's relationship. The past and the present accentuate the similarities between the two women; one punished for being loved by a king, and the other punished by her insensitive husband.Last year's Oscar winner "The King's Speech" gave us a glimpse of the relationship between King Edward VIII and Simpson, casting Guy Pearce as the beleaguered king. "W.E." develops this section. This is by no means a historical film, it's like a poem narrated against background music. One notable feature of the film is the omnipresence of music, but it certainly isn't harmful.Andrea Riseborough's performance elevates her above the act of impersonation to reveal the character of a woman condemned by history. Her powerful acting is worth mentioning, making her one of the most promising rising actors in Britain today. Similarly, Madonna's directing shows a cinematic maturity previously unseen.If you're a dreamer who is questioning why a king would give up his throne for a woman, or if you just want to let go with a memorable love story, then this film is your answer.