Factory Girl - 2006

The Factory Girl is about aspirations of a pure WASP heiress, Edie Sedgewick and also those of a second generation (I guess) immigrant, Andy Warhol. Edie Sedgewick is full of what is happening in her life at the moment, she seems to have no thought of what's past and what is to come. I know only one other person like that, and that is my father. It is a rare gift. Do you realize how often we agonize over the past and future and completely ignore the present?

Edie ignores her heritage and possibilities totally and drops out of Radcliffe to come to New York after she is smitten by Holly Golightly. She wants to make movies and be famous. She runs into Andy Warhol at a party. He is flirting with a genre called pop-art, and also makes short films. He is struck by her verve and beauty and they kind of hang out together. She is a subject of many of his short films. Their relationship is projected as asexual and that is how I like it. But hanging out at The Factory (as Andy's studio is called) with a set of bohemian actors who take drugs and alcohol. Edie is on her gradual destructive trip, squandering her money, doing drugs, hanging around Andy uselessly, just living in the moment. She has this exclusive look for herself, heavy eye makeup, thick eyebrows, pale lips, a short dress, black leotards and gorgeous dangling, huge, gorgeous earrings.

But things change. Edie gets involved with Bob Dylan though he is called something else in the movie. This changes things between Andy and Edie too. He finds other hangers-on. Things just get worse for Edie as Bob marries someone else. Her life goes out of control and she winds up bankrupt, junked out and abandoned by her family.

"Let a man go on his way to perdition," says D.H. Lawrence. What we perceive as perdition us could be heaven for Edie. That is how she wished to live, and that is how she lived. How many of us have the courage to do that?

Andy Warhol made his movies with her as a subject, and Bob Dylan wrote two magnificent songs for her. 'Just like a Woman' and 'Leopard Skin Pillbox hat'. Her look was very famous once. She was an original socialite who craved for fame and desire to lead her life the way she wanted. In the present times, Paris Hilton springs to my mind as a famous socialite. But Paris is so put-on and so obviously out for nothing but headlines. Edie had a natural sophistication that is required for a celebrity, and a natural flair for attracting attention.

The movie is riddled with inaccuracies. Andy Warhol is shown as a ruthless exploiter of her charisma. Bob Dylan is painted as a caring lover she rejected. The facts may be quite different, my readings of their wiki pages show.

The movie works amazingly because of two great reasons. Sienna Miller and the story. The story of a rich girl crashing down to dust because of her degenerate (as we see it) living is just so romantic (like a female Devdas).  Sienna Miller looks amazing! Simply Amazing. She just gets into the role, she is great. This is what Jude Law lost? Gosh, what a sad loser.