The year is 1998, and Manhattan is abuzz with anticipation about the upcoming auction of the estate of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. But the auction is far more than a diversion for Wally Winthrop, a transplanted Southerner trapped in an unhappy and abusive marriage. Transfixed by the exquisite artifacts of the Windsors' lives, Wally becomes obsessed with the love story of Wallis Simpson, the chic, charismatic American who captured the heart of King Edward VIII. As she learns more about the sacrifices Wallis made in choosing to be with Edward, Wally finds the courage to follow her own heart and create her own happiness.
Reviews
Screen
Mark Adams
"While certainly not perfect it does have delightful and memorable moments…and best of all in Andrea Riseborough it has a remarkable and mesmerising central performance.
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01/09/2011
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The Sunday Times
Cosmo Landesman
"Good heavens! Madonna has made a film that is almost really good.
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22/01/2012
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Empire Magazine
Damon Wise
"Though it often fails, most glaringly in historical rigour, W. E. does have interesting things to say. Unusually for a fashion icon, it says something unfashionable, which is that the brash Simpson, far from being the villain of a dark day in British history, was the victim, trapped by the love of a needy husband. In the short term, this will see W. E. dismissed as a vanity project but, in the long term, history may well find it to be a fascinating comment on 20th century celebrity from the ultimate insider."
16/01/2012
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Channel 4 Film
Catherine Bray
"An ethically questionable historical figure is re-imagined as the gutsy heroine of a romantic tragedy. Enough already with the famous-equals-feminist school of female icons - it's not enough to simply dress well.
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20/01/2012
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The New Statesman
Ryan Gilbey
"The editing keeps each shot trimmed to under three seconds, while the camera soars and circles, and the screenplay dreams of wit.
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19/01/2012
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Time Out
Dave Calhoun
"A weird, brown-nosing and slightly vile movie ... Decorous, swirling and time-hopping,‘W.E.’ – Wallis and Edward’s first initials, combined – looks good, wears its clothes well and has a rhythm free of fustiness. But it also has all the credibility of a fan stamping their feet and insisting their idol be understood."
17/01/2012
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The Times
Wendy Ide
"This is a film that has been controlled and designed to such an extent that any flicker of life — or, God forbid, humour — has been completely squashed out of it."
20/01/2012
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Total Film
Neil Smith
"As handsomely mounted as a deer’s head on the walls of Balmoral, W.E. looks a dream with its vintage clobber, ornate salons and flawless furnishings. Yet the film feels as false as a freshly Botoxed forehead, not to mention disingenuous in the way it glosses over the reluctant ruler’s Nazi sympathies."
06/01/2012
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The Evening Standard
The Evening Standard
"There's no soul to this film, just a feeling that we are being manipulated into agreeing with Madonna's view."
20/01/2012
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The Financial Times
Nigel Andrews
"For some, the film will be paper hankie time, for others paper bag. In the schmaltz-offset column, Riseborough is brilliant beyond the call, outclassing her material. And the production values are fine. The story is set down elegantly, silkily, expansively, like a dandy’s suicide note."
19/01/2012
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The Scotsman
Alistair Harkness
"Groaning platitudes about the damaging nature of fame and the despicable way rumours take hold as fact say more about the director’s view of the world than Simpson’s – even as she makes a bizarre attempt to liken Simpson to Princess Diana by egregiously shoehorning Mohammed Al Fayed into the fictional story she uses as a framing device."
19/01/2012
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The Los Angeles Times
Betsy Sharkey
"Far too simplistic and borderline offensive, "W.E." essentially says all it takes for a woman to feel fulfilled is the love of a good man and a good martini close at hand. Not that the man and the martini aren't excellent complements to a life, but we've come a longer way than that, baby. Or so I thought."
09/12/2011
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The Observer
Philip French
"This laughable movie resembles the sort of trashy American TV mini-series shown in this country by Channel 5. The two tiresome stories go together the way the sauce and the burger melt into each other within the bun of a Big Mac, and the effect is even less nutritious.
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22/01/2012
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The Independent on Sunday
Nicholas Barber
"Madonna's disastrous folly...
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22/01/2012
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Scotland on Sunday
Siobhan Synnot
"W.E. is so weirdly directed and edited that you keep wondering if this is a cheese dream. Even basic history bends like a Salvador Dali watch so the “archive” footage of his funeral describes George VI as George III."
15/01/2012
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The Daily Telegraph
Robbie Collin
"A stultifyingly vapid film, festooned with moments of pure aesthetic idiocy. With characteristic humbleness, Madonna performs a song called 'Masterpiece’ over the end credits, although one can’t help but feel that her 2003 number one single 'Sorry’ might have been more appropriate."
19/01/2012
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Time Magazine
Richard Corliss
"The director’s debut effort, the 2008 Filth and Wisdom, was at least recognizably Madonna in its tale of a pole dancer and a man in dominatrix drag. W.E. is a failure of less significance: a botched episode of Masterpiece Theater crossed with a lethargic indie angst-othon. We suspect that, if viewers emerging from this movie were asked to name their worst of the year, they’d cry W.E., W.E., W.E., all the way home."
08/12/2011
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The Guardian
Peter Bradshaw
"The fantastically wooden drama moves in a deafening series of clunks; setpieces are agonisingly orchestrated, and Madonna's historical perspective is eccentric. On the occasion of national grief at the death of a monarch in 1936, a faux newsreel announcer intones over flickering black-and-white images: "King George the Third has died…" Well, he had a good innings."
19/01/2012
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The Independent
Anthony Quinn
"There may be an unacknowledged layer of meaning in the title, W.E. referring to Wallis and Edward's twinned destinies but also hinting at Madonna's identification (WE two) with a sexy and supposedly misunderstood American interloper. She's welcome to think that ... I fear she has only made herself look a bit of a wally."
20/01/2012
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The Daily Mail
Chris Tookey
"Making this film may be worthwhile therapy for Madge, but it’s a colossal, narcissistic bore for the rest of us."
20/01/2012
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