Factory Girl (2006)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

George Hickenlooper

Writers:

Captain Mauzner (screenplay)
Simon Monjack (story) ...

Release Date:

2 February 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Tagline:

When Andy met Edie, life imitated art.

Plot:

Based on the rise and fall of socialite Edie Sedgwick, concentrating on her relationships with Andy Warhol and a folk singer.

Plot Keywords:

Warhol | Folk Singer | Rise And Fall | Artist | Socialite

Cast

Sienna Miller	...	Edie Sedgwick
Guy Pearce	...	Andy Warhol
Hayden Christensen	...	Musician
Jimmy Fallon	...	Chuck Wein
Jack Huston	...	Gerard Malanga
Armin Amiri	...	Ondine
Tara Summers	...	Brigid Polk
Mena Suvari	...	Richie Berlin
Shawn Hatosy	...	Syd Pepperman
Beth Grant	...	Julia Warhol
James Naughton	...	Fuzzy Sedgwick
Edward Herrmann	...	James Townsend
Illeana Douglas	...	Diana Vreeland
Mary Elizabeth Winstead	...	Ingrid Superstar
Don Novello	...	Mort Silvers

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive drug use, strong sexual content, nudity and language.

Runtime:

USA:99 min (unrated version) | USA:90 min | Argentina:99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Slovak | French

Color:

Color | Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Ireland:16 | UK:15 | USA:Unrated (DVD) | Portugal:M/16 | South Korea:18 | Singapore:M18 | Italy:VM14 | Finland:K-15 | New Zealand:R16 | Japan:R-15 | USA:R (certificate #43218) | Netherlands:16 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Bossier City, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Weinstein Company, The

Trivia:

The newspaper clipping handed to Edie reads "Dr. Kenneth B. Clement, ranaround naked chanting 'Banana Man.' narrowest margin in amayoral election. The final count withal precincts reporting, was Locher to Stokes.", over and over as filler space.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Andy Warhol and Edie attend the New York City premiere of Darling (1965) (which opened in that city in August 1965) a month after Andy is seen watching "I Dream of Jeannie" (1965) on TV), which didn't premiere on television until mid September 1965.

Quotes:

Edie Sedgwick: And what would I have to do in one of your movies?
Andy Warhol: Just be yourself.
Edie Sedgwick: Well which one?
James Townsend: You're going to be bankrupt soon.
Edie Sedgwick: James, you take life too seriously. How could I possibly be bankrupt? My grandfather invented the elevator.
James Townsend: Then you should be familiar with the concept of up and down.

Movie Connections:

References Poor Little Rich Girl (1965)

Soundtrack:

Prelude in F Major, BWV 928

Evocative But Frustratingly Elliptical Look at Andy Warhol's Factory and the Sad Party Girl in the Middle

For the concerted effort Sienna Miller puts into her searing portrayal of Warhol protégé and underground celebrity Edie Sedgwick, it would have been rewarding to experience a film that matches her unbridled dramatic impact. Unfortunately, director George Hickenlooper, primarily a documentary filmmaker, seems more focused on eye-catching cinematic techniques - a deliberately artsy mix of overtly dramatic images, grainy film stock and slow-motion photography - than honest character development in this highly fictionalized 2007 account of her brief life. The result feels energetic but ultimately rather cursory in the way he depicts the Manhattan party scene in the mid-1960's, in particular, the Factory, where Warhol let his coterie of drug-addicted fame-seekers gather to make virtually unwatchable films that reflect their constant state of ennui.

With her big raccoon eyes, pre-punk hairdo and flashing smile, Miller bears such a striking resemblance to the real-life Sedgwick that she carries much of the film by the sheer will of her character's Holly Golightly-like sense of exalted self-worth. But like Holly, Sedgwick lacked talent to sustain a film career, and the script leaves Miller to her own devices in connecting us with her character's tormented psyche amid her escalating drug use. On the upside, Guy Pearce accurately captures the discomfiting public image of Warhol down to the familiar narcissistic indifference and manipulative shyness, but his character gradually recedes into the background. At first, Hayden Christensen comes across as amateurish and unintentionally amusing as a Bob Dylan doppelganger, especially since he makes a feeble attempt at capturing the singer's recognizable speech cadences. Just as he manages to transcend the awkwardness of the character's intrusion into the story, he also disappears making his impact in Sedgwick's life feel rather fleeting.

Even though the cryptic screenplay by Captain Mauzner, Aaron Richard Golub and Simon Monjack conveniently paints Warhol and the faux-Dylan as polarizing figures pulling at Sedgwick's soul, the story really comes down to her own inner demons. The problem is that she remains oddly elliptical throughout, and Hickenlooper seems satisfied with leaving us with an impressionistic view of a person who barely warrants our attention forty years later. Among the supporting players, there are quite a familiar faces - Ileana Douglas as Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, Jimmy Fallon as Sedgwick's confidante Chuck Wein, Tara Summers as fellow Warhol protégé Brigid Berlin, Mena Suvari as Brigid's sister Richie, Edward Herrmann as the family attorney, Mary Kate Olsen as a partygoer. However, none of them are given any opportunity to shine.