FACTORY GIRL

A Factory Call Girl

by Brian Hughes

Factory Girl, with creative licensing, tells the short and tumultuous story of society girl turned Andy Warhol “superstar” Edie Sedgwick. The film itself seems to have had a tumultuous life with re-edits and re-shoots occurring as recently as last month. Allegations also arose when Bob Dylan came out of reclusion to criticize the film for the role they said he had in Edie’s demise. Dylan claimed defamation of character and threatened a law suit against The Weinstein Company.

So what is all the fuss about?

The film begins with Edie (Sienna Miller) running manically through New York City traffic: Running perhaps from a life never entirely hers. George Hickenlooper, the director, wastes no time in getting down to business: Edie leaves Radcliffe and moves to New York City to get away from her stuffy existence. She soon finds herself at The Museum of Modern Art where she is introduced to a smitten Andy Warhol (Guy Pearce.) Warhol has instantly found his next muse. So he invites her to his (in)famous Factory and soon has her in front of his camera while parading her around Paris and New York as his “superstar.” Following this whim and believing it, Sedgwick does as Andy says - and is caught up in the swirl and nightmare of crazy parties, overspending and heroin abuse. Soon Edie has to face a harsh reality when Andy has no use for her anymore, and her father cuts off the trust fund.

Sienna Miller gives a harrowing performance. Instead of casting Edie off as just another casualty of the era, you feel the real pain Edie endured via Miller’s portrayal. Edie, in escaping a father who abused her, ends up running to another father figure in Warhol, who in turn disappoints her much like her dad, and the realization is bone chilling to the viewer. Miller does all she can in her transformation with such a typical biopic script. More beautiful than Edie herself, she is fearless in going to the physical and emotional depths needed to fully flesh out the roller coaster role. Her interaction with Guy Pearce as Andy is childlike and hopeful, which makes their disintegration that much more effective.

Guy Pearce gives, for my money, the best and most subtle performance of Andy Warhol yet. His eyes convey a conniver who is out to satisfy his creative needs rather then the needs of those around him. This Andy is also unique because of the unabashed handling of his coldness and insensitivity in combination with his monster-like attention to his blotchy facial complexion. Though, occasionally, his dry sense of humor is apparent when he is staging a scene for his film Horse and asks his cameraman to make sure they get the mic stand in the shot.

A regrettable choice was the miscasting of Hayden Christensen as “the musician” – as the end credits call him, though it is quite apparent it is Bob Dylan to most viewers. Christensen is too clean for the then ramshackled Dylan. Also, it seems as it he is “acting” throughout the entire film. The scriptwriter chose to make The Musician the ethical artistic compass against the cold, commercialistic Factory. This is much too black and white.

Hickenlooper captured the era terrifically with his pseudo grainy black and white/color, sixteen and super eight millimeter footage and swift editing, mirroring Edie’s turbulent superstar years. At times the performances of Miller and Pearce are so convincing it seems like an actual documentary. The director has a hell of a time with tension in some scenes: Like the standoff that occurs when The Musician refuses to be directed by Andy Warhol for one of his famous “screen tests.” Or the scene that depicts Andy shooting his film Beauty No. 2 and allowing Edie’s friend, Chuck Wain (Jimmy Falon), to direct an actor to rape Edie while punishing her with a verbal assault.

Some viewers may have problems with inaccuracies and what the filmmakers chose to leave out, like the fact that Edie allegedly had a 2 year relationship with Bobby Neuwirth, Bob Dylan’s associate, rather than Dylan himself. But that wouldn’t make for an interesting story. Who cares about Bobby Neuwirth, right? The use of Edie’s narration to her therapist saturates the movie to a fault, telling us the obvious, “Andy took ordinary objects and made them iconic,” instead of concentrating on developing the characters more fully. Plus - interview snippets captured over the end titles, with people like her brother and George Plimpton, perhaps give us some clues as to where else Hickenlooper could have taken this film.

In the end, I would have preferred this film be longer, but I enjoyed living through this fascinating era for ninety minutes. I also ask anyone reading this review to see this film sole for the performances of Sienna Miller and Guy Pearce alone. I highly doubt either one of them will be remembered come award season next year.

reviewed: 2007-02-02

Related links:
IMDB: Factory Girl (2007)