The Devil Wears Prada – David Frankel
If you were looking for an accurate film adaptation of the popular bestselling novel by Lauren Weisberger, you would be mistaken to rent The Devil Wears Prada. Aside from the central characters Miranda Priestly and Andy Sachs playing the part of slave-driver boss and eager-to-please assistant, the screenplay is drastically different from the novel. That is not to say that Hollywood has once again ruined a bestseller by simply adapting it: screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna took Weisberger’s plain coming-of-age story and made it into a fast-paced, witty exposé on how the average Joe is influenced by the seemingly petty decisions of far-removed fashion editors. To the satisfaction of fashion journalists everywhere, The Devil Wears Prada not only shows the frivolous nature of fashion, but also gives good credit to the efficacy and authority of the higher up editors.
Meryl Streep is positively captivating as the stoic Miranda Priestly, one of the most powerful female editors of the fashion magazine “Runway”, endowed with the power to ruin or propel careers in the industry. When her first assistant is promoted, her worshipful second assistant Emily interviews a wide-eyed Anne Hathaway as a replacement for herself. Hathaway, as Andy Sachs, is completely wrong for the high powered fashion magazine environment. An accomplished journalist student, she accepts the job with the hopes of getting her foot in the door at any publishing job of her choice if she can last a year at “Runway”. Her tasks as assistant cover anything from the menial to the impossible, from getting coffee around the clock to tracking down the unpublished manuscript for the latest Harry Potter book.
In rewriting the story, director David Frankel and producer Wendy Finerman made sure to avoid portraying Andy Sachs as selling her soul to the “devil” in her transformation from frumpy Midwesterner to chic fashion plate. In the novel, Andy Sachs becomes just as blinded as the other “clackers” that scurry across the marble floors of “Runway”; in the film, she slowly builds respect for Miranda and the industry. Despite having only directed a handful of episodes of Sex in the City, Frankel proves very apt at capturing the chaotic bustle of midtown Manhattan. Every scene is composed so that as much of the busy streets is caught on film as possible.
The makers of this film really tried to make it as far from just a chick flick as possible. In one smartly delivered diatribe, Streep shows that fashion is no trifling business by explaining to Hathaway that the cerulean sweater that she thinks shows her indifference to fashion only came about from choices that the fashion editors make; every item of clothing is carefully designed and chosen by somebody in high fashion no matter how much freedom one has in choice of clothing. At a photo shoot in Central Park, Andy Sachs learns that getting success at one’s job means having the pieces fall apart in one’s personal life. As Andy’s only ally at Runway, Nigel, excellently played by Stanley Tucci, puts it: when your life is really in shambles, you’re ready for a promotion.
The Devil Wears Prada has surprisingly more substance than anybody expected it to have. The film is more relevant and not to mention reverent, with fashion as the main subject instead of one’s horrible boss. Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci deliver excellent performances as expected; the real scene stealer is Emily Blunt, who delivers her lines with perfect rhythm and macabre humor. However, Adrian Grenier and other peripheral characters pull the acting grade down to an A-. The picture and sound are a satisfactory B, showing nothing original or especially breathtaking. The filmmakers gave up excellent opportunities to go over-the-top with set design on some of the fashion show and benefit scenes, and stayed fairly muted in most of the wardrobe choices. If you’re interested in showcases of high fashion in cinema, the Japanese film Tony Takitani does a better job than Devil in being stylish.
|
