Film Review: The September Issue
R.J. Cutler goes Behind the Scenes for Vogue's Biggest Book Ever
Oct 25, 2009
Anyone seeing The September Issue and hoping to trace similarities between Vogue editor Anna Wintour and The Devil Wears Prada’s Miranda Priestly is headed for disappointment.
R.J. Cutler’s documentary is a fun behind-the-scenes glimpse of the workings of the leading fashion magazine as Wintour and her coterie of editors, stylists, models and designers put together the record-breaking September 2007 issue. But this is a sketch only – as far away from a real person as Alexander McQueen’s creations are from what we wear every day. Wintour herself remains as elusive as ever.
The film shows her making firm, decisive calls on which photos work and which don’t, meeting with designers for an early look at their new collections, sponsoring a fashion mentorship program, wearing fur by the Paris runways and putting her current favourite starlet – British actress Sienna Miller – on the cover.
But we don’t learn much about her. She’s got a daughter who wants nothing to do with the magazine, she’s got minions who fear and respect her, and she’s got an addiction to Starbucks. Other than that, there’s not much there. Even her iconic bob represents nothing more than the familiar tendency of people to cling to a hairstyle dating from when they looked best. Never do we see the kind of emotion Meryl Streep brought to Miranda in Prada. Only once does Wintour even seem remotely vulnerable: when she discusses her successful, socially-involved family and how they find her career “amusing.”
However, Cutler has a nose for characters, and if his leading lady remains remote, he’ll look elsewhere. In this case, he finds Grace Coddington, a former model from Wales who survived a car accident and became the lead designer for Vogue. Emotional where Wintour is aloof, sharp-tongued where Wintour is silent, dowdy (it must be said) where Wintour is whippet-thin and stylish, Coddington is a fascinating creature who genuinely believes in the art she’s helping to create. Wintour, for all her fame and glamour, fades into the background next to this vivid woman who happily shares her feelings with the camera, and even incorporates one of the documentarians into a fashion spread.
If it weren’t for Coddington, this film would be a disappointment. It may be necessary for the magazine, and perhaps even for ourselves, that Anna Wintour remain at a distance, but because the film otherwise shows us so little of the minute, finicky struggles involved in putting a magazine together, Coddington is a necessary window into this world. Perhaps she’s only as fascinating as her context, but Cutler should consider making Coddington the focus of her own film next time.
