Film Review: The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

Experienced viewers should know not to trust the Hollywood hype. When the film promises to be a brutal satire that would do to the fashion industry what Altman’s The Player did to Hollywood, there are good reasons to be sceptical. This is the case with The Devil Wears Prada, a 2006 film directed by David Frankel.

The plot is based on the eponymous 2003 best-selling novel by Lauren Weisberger, a young American writer who found inspiration in her own traumatic experiences as an assistant to Anna Wintour, the tyrannical editor-in-chief of Vogue fashion magazine. In the film, just like in the novel, her fictionalised alter ego is Andrea “Andy” Sachs (played by Anne Hathaway), an aspiring writer who is forced to take a job at Runway fashion magazine as the assistant to the monstrously demanding editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly (played by Meryl Streep). Sachs despises fashion, all those who follow it, and especially her vacuous magazine colleagues for whom physical appearance is the only thing that matters. However, over time, influenced by Miranda's friendly assistant Nigel (played by Stanley Tucci), Andrea transforms from an ugly duckling into a swan and begins to enjoy the fashion world more and more, even as she starts to drift away from her boyfriend Nate (played by Adrian Grenier).

After dozens of screenwriters and anonymous script doctors worked on the film adaptation of the novel, it may not be too surprising that the sharp satire and critique of contemporary culture from the literary source was turned into a lukewarm romantic comedy. The fact that Anna Wintour herself was pleased with the film shows how benign and pro-establishment it is. Things become even clearer when one considers that the most prestigious fashion houses participated in the film's costumes, making The Devil Wears Prada the record-holder for the highest costume budget in history.

This is not surprising, given that both Hollywood and the global fashion industry have too much in common – primarily the acquisition of wealth through the sale of often worthless goods that consumers do not actually need – and that criticism of one would be understood as indirect criticism of the other. Therefore, all “problematic” details were removed from the film – the protagonist's Jewish heritage, Nigel's sexual orientation (since it is not convenient to remind the audience who dominates the fashion industry), as well as accusations against the fashion industry for promoting anorexia.

However, even with those limitations, The Devil Wears Prada could have worked as a mildly entertaining film. Unfortunately, like the heroine, Frankel’s film is torn between its intent to be a satirical exploration of the fashion industry on one side and celebrating it on the other. The result is a comedy without much humour, a satire that is bland to non-existent, and a message that is telegraphed in such an inefficient and repetitive way that it makes the film feel overlong.

The Devil Wears Prada is watchable mainly due to its cast. It became the most successful of the films starring Anne Hathaway, one of the more promising Hollywood actresses at the start of the 21st century. Her work in this film was overshadowed not only by the notoriously dependable Meryl Streep, who plays the film's anti-heroine with ease, but also by Emily Blunt in the role of Andy’s fashion-obsessed colleague in the editorial office.

Despite its more than obvious flaws, The Devil Wears Prada was a huge commercial success and received mostly positive reviews. Whether the viewers find this justified or not generally depends on how they perceive the film’s subject itself.

RATING: 3/10 (+)

Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
InLeo blog https://inleo.io/@drax.leo

Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e

BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
BCH donations: qpvxw0jax79lhmvlgcldkzpqanf03r9cjv8y6gtmk9