Movie Review : W.E - Edward and Wallis

W.E - Edward and Wallis by Madonna. With Abbie Cornish, Andrea Riseborough, James D'Arcy, Oscar Isaac, and James Fox.

This movie is about two parallel stories,  where the two female protagonists share the same name : Wallis.

1998: Wallis Winthrop (Abbie Cornish) is married to doctor William Winthrop and they live in a luxury appartament in New York city. Wallis left his beloved work in order to have a family, but has difficulties in getting pregnant. Her marriage crisis and her husband that’s often out for his work at the hospital or for conferencies, make her spend her day at the auction house where she used to work and looking at the collection of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor’s goods. Her mum give her the name Wallis in honor of Wallis Simpson, the woman behind King Edward VIII’s abdication, so Wallis Winthrop felt like a bond to this woman.  This story is interspersed by Wallis Simpson’ story. Her two marriages and divorces, when and who she met the Edward VIII and who she managed the high media exposure and the critics to her behavior and the fact that she was American and divorced.

The originality of this movie is that for the first time we have Wallis Simpson’s point of view.  We all know what Edward VII had to give up, but neither Wallis had an easy life…

I read that the movie was panned by critics and I can’t understand why….Personally, I liked it. The photography and the costumes are amazing (especially the ones for the Twenties and Thirties). The actors were stunning and believable.

Only one thing I didn’t like and it was the fact that the scenes were so long and there were a lot of moments of silence…I understand that it’s for creating suspense but I would have preferred less “dead moments”.

Rating: 3½ /5