Despite a dedicated performance by Sienna Miller, Factory Girl delves only superficially into her character, and ultimately fails to tell a coherent story.
Despite a dedicated performance by Sienna Miller, Factory Girl delves only superficially into her character, and ultimately fails to tell a coherent story.
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Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 75,698
The true story of one woman's brief and ultimately tragic flirtation with fame in the 1960s provides the basis for this biographical drama. In 1943, Edie Sedgwick (Sienna Miller) was born to a wealthy and socially prominent family, and she grew up with beauty and money, but also a history of mental illness; she was hospitalized with an eating disorder in her late teens, and by the time she was 21, two of her seven siblings had died before their time. In 1964, Edie moved to New York City, and
quickly made a splash on the Manhattan social scene; she became friendly with the famous pop artist Andy Warhol (Guy Pearce), who was fascinated by her gamine loveliness and her quirky personality. Warhol wasted no time in casting her in one of his underground movies, and she quickly became a crucial part of his retinue of "superstars." Fashion icon Diana Vreeland (Illeana Douglas) was convinced Edie had the looks and charm to also become a successful model, and soon she was gracing the pages of Life, Vogue, and Glamour. But Edie's instability was hardly helped by her new fast-lane lifestyle, and when she met Billy Quinn (Hayden Christensen), a folk rock singer-songwriter often cited as "the voice of a generation," he persuaded her that Warhol and his associates were simply using her fame and beauty for their own gain, and she found herself torn between two powerful mentors, one of whom had become her lover as well. Factory Girl also co-stars Jimmy Fallon, Mena Suvari, and Tara Summers as regulars at the Warhol "Factory." The character of Musician was inspired in part by Bob Dylan, who was romantically involved with Edie Sedgwick for a brief time. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
I think Sienna Miller does a really nice job of capturing Edie Sedgwick, who really was the fore-runner to Paris Hilton and a lot of other people who are just famous for being famous.
In Factory Girl, a jumbled account of the short life and photogenic hard times of the first Andy Warhol superstar, Edie Sedgwick, Sienna Miller makes Sedgwick into an archetypal over-confident blond with a mannered young Kathleen Turner croak.
Summing up a complex human being in two hours is like an MTV spot about Nelson Mandela cut to a Kanye West track. We don't really get to know Sedgwick at all.
The new, unrated DVD, which includes new footage and Hickenlooper's bitter commentary (attacking critics who dismissed his film, among other things), is just as disappointing as the shapeless and shallow theatrical release.
This raw spotlight on the debutante 'Mayflower girl' turned Andy Warhol superstar groupie, pretty much concludes that no matter how much money or blue blood a woman has, you're still just one more exploitable, disposable babe.
Factory Girl is an effective evocation of a particular slice of recent history. The film benefits from Miller's turn as Edie, an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink performance that takes the poor girl from the heights and highs of fame to the depths and doom
les écrits de Mauzner n'arrivent malheureusement pas à rendre justice, voire même à ajouter le moindre commentaire critique, à leur source d'inspiration
Spoilt, rich, posh, vacuous and fame-obsessed - who better to play Edie Sedgwick? If she's acting or not, Miller is brilliant. Just a shame the film is so shallow too.
Is it possible ? A movie full of flaws, that still touches you, that still breakes you ? For me, Factory Girl proved it.
Guy Pearce was perfect as Andy Warhol, while Sienna Miller did a good job. Hayden Christensen played well Bob Dylan (under another name because it is still not sure Eddie had an affair with him).
There was something wrong with the direction and the screenplay, but yet both surprisingly great.
There are way many movies showing imposant figures falling from high, but the beautiful Factory Girl really joined me, and I undeniably fell in love with this film.
Every single person sould find something to love in this movie.
Edie Sedgwick becomes the 1960s version of Paris Hilton, famous for her association to achievement and her downfall.The highlights of this film are the performances by Sienna Miller and Guy Pearce who are remarkably believable as Sedgwick and Andy Warhol. In fact, Pearce's performance frequently reminded me of Phillip
Seymour Hoffman's Oscar-winning turn in Capote, and Miller embodied the tragic beauty of Angelina Jolie's Golden Globe-winner in Gia. Without a doubt, they are the only aspects of this film that keep it from falling into a morass of montage-ridden, depressing display of frenetic camerawork.I've read from multiple sources that Factory Girl has numerous factual errors. The Village Voice called it "Edie Sedgwick for Dummies," and Bob Dylan threatened to sue the film for defamation resulting in Hayden Christensen's character being called "Billy Quinn" instead of Dylan.By the end of the film, I didn't think I learned anything true. The articles I read about Sedgwick and Warhol helped me understand them as people more than the film, and I can only wish that Hollywood screenwriters would trust in the realization that sometimes real life is more interesting than what they could make up.Overall, see this film for Miller and Pearce, then do your research.
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