Factory GIRL!

      Wednesday is movie day. My boyfriend and I try to watch as many films as possible. We have a subscription to NetFlix and try to go Wednesday to the Ritz cinemas here in Philadelphia. They have all day matinee prices. It is a great deal and they show great films.

      This week I got out of work at 9pm and took a cab over to the theater. We met up with my friend Kris and planned on catching the 930 showing of Factory Girl. I was very excited to watch the film. The book (Edie: An American Biography) had been on my summer read list, but I never got to it.

The basis of the film is about Edie Sedgwick and her relationship with Andy Warhol. (Here is a link to a biography on her and her family. http://www.warholstars.org/stars/edie.html ) The title comes from Andy's studio which was refered to as the Factory. (Here is a description of the factory: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Factory)

I have been compared to Edie several times, I guess it could be because of my keen fashion sense or maybe those who had compared me thought I was crazy or anorexic with a drug problem. Nonetheless, Edie and I do have several commonalities and parts of the film were difficult to watch as they conjured up memories of my own painful past.

I thought that the film was a great exploration of how an individual becames "celebrity". I think the process and the dangers involved with the title "celebrity" are timeless and universal. Portraying Edie as such an empty shell of a human really exaggerated her short stint as a celebrity, although, it created an understanding about her unquenchable quest for life. A quest that led her to try and do almost anything, which only shortened her life. 

Overall, I thought the actors and actresses were fantastic in their roles. I can't imagine that Sienna Miller would not get nominated for best something or other. She unleashed the complex and unstable nature of Edie onto the audience leaving us to wonder if it was her relationship with Warhol that was her downfall or was she just doomed from birth? There were parts that were unbelieveable, extravagant and sublimely sad, but her life was no romantic comedy.

I think the film is fantastic and am looking forward to watching it again. It makes you wonder if Edie's life would have ended so early if she had never met Andy. I believe that her youthful demise was predestined. I don't think it would have mattered who or where she lived, it seems that Edie was just Edie.