Portrait d'une muse

"The Factory" was the entire fifth floor studio of 231 East 47th Street in Midtown Manhattan serving as artistic sanctuary for Andy Warhol and the place for artsy types in the mid to late 60's. It's also where Edie Sedgwick spent most of her time as Warhol turned her into a starlet on his silver screen and as the original Paris Hilton she became famous for being famous, complete with trust fund and a nasty drug habit courtesy of Andy and his "Warhol Superstars".

Andy Warhol dove into most things artistic; shaping Pop Art, producing The Velvet Underground, and making his own films. Factory Girl took great advantage of the justification for using all manner of film-making formats cutting to point-of-view shots through grainy black and white 8 MM film camera viewfinders. Ask your grandparents... or SAIT instructor Philip Letourneau.

The cameras take you through a real life tragedy as Sienna Miller portrays a charming and naive Edie Sedgwick. Conflicted, she's seduced into fame by a chilling Guy Pearce as Warhol while a painfully dull Hayden Christensen as "The Musician" attempts to rescue her. Denying a relationship with Sedgwick, Bob Dylan's lawyers refused his inclusion in the film but he represents the possible redemption for the spiraling "Poor Little Rich Girl".

Overall, Factory Girl has trouble navigating it's plot shifting to and from Edie as the art that Andy creates, her personal journey, and the people around them both, all topped by a future Miss Sedgwick revealing the story to a psychiatrist in rehab.

There's a great movie in here somewhere but Factory Girl is not it.

C Matt Watterworth http://www.theweal.com