FACTORY GIRL [George Hickenlooper, USA 2006] - movie review by Mandibil

Some women become famous for their beauty and some for the company they keep. Edie sedgwick was famous for both - and got both a plenty. This is the story of her life seen through her relationships with two of the most "important" artists of the 20th century, topped with a bit of family background.

Edie comes from a rich and aristocratic, but also abusive background. Her father rapes her and her mother consents by shutting up about it. When she tries her luck as a model in New York, she meets Andy Warhol and he sees possibilities in her beauty and lures her into his inner circle at "The Factory". As any other psychopath, he spoils her and tells her she is a superstar and that she is going to be the center of his movies.As she becomes more and more addicted to drugs, she slowly falls out of the inner circle and starts a relationship with Bob Dylan, who roams around the place at times. But her steady decline into drug-zombieness, she loses just about every friend and benefactor, and ends up in a drug rehabilitation institution.

All the main actors do a fine job, particularly Guy Pierce as Warhol. He nails his restrained homosexuality quite well, but still retains a certain personal interpretation of him which i find admirable. The carbon-copy type imitations of famous persons, just feels boring. There must be something more into the mix. That is a slightly the problem with Sienna Miller as Edie. She looks very much like her, but she does not feel believable enough to go to the higher levels. There are also too many superficial scenes, that avoids going deeper into her, undoubtedly horrifying experiences as a child and how that manifestes in her relation with the weird men Warhol and Dylan. The worst part is the directors choice to constantly try to blame all of her actions on a male person. Why is it so hard to give women responsibility for their own life-decisions? Yes she was abused by her parents, but then why does she see them? A very nice man, that she knew from her school days, tries to help her several times, but she keeps pushing him away. Is it womens alfa-male hypergamy genes, that is out of control, we constantly have to bereminded, is not her own responsibility? She practically throws herself into the arms of famous persons, as the starfucker she is. But then she blames her shitty junkie-life on those same persons, when they no longer wanna finance her lifestyle. The movie does give a fairly interesting view of the hedonism and nihilism that was prevalent in the art underground at that time. maybe it is a bit clichéed, but still good fun. I would have liked it to go deeper into the min characters personalities, but as often is with biopics, It has to conform to a certain politically correct view.

This is a fine movie without any real depth. I like the Warhol version by Pierce, a really good actor in my opinion, and Hayden Christensen, actually both looks and sound much like Dylan. But the need to go through a life-story, although only some 6 years or so, inhibits its possibilities of showing real depth of her or the two men involved.

Rating: 5/10