The Devil Wears Prada

For this I can blame Martha. Without a female influence in my life this is definitely one of those films I would not have watched on my own, and yet that would have been a shame as this is actually a wickedly clever and sly film that is entertaining whilst subtly making some interesting and timely comments on modern society. Anne Hathaway plays Andy Sachs a down to earth girl with ambitions of making it as a journalist in New York. But in order to get to a position where she can do this she decides to apply for a position in a fashion magazine as assistant to the infamous Miranda Priestly, a position that she has no interest in, but that will open up the gates of employment once her tenure is completed.

This set up is one that is instantly familiar to myself, the idea of working in jobs you may not have ideally chosen, but with a higher purpose in mind and how the film works is by showing how fluid people can be, and how influenced we can be by our surroundings whether we are aware of it or not. Andy starts the film certain of her convictions and finds her views of the fashion industry altered, and to the bane of her boyfriend and social life. However this is not a scathing look at the industry and very little is made of the arguments against it, yes we are shown the fickle nature it can have, and the influence it can have on everything we wear, but that it not the film’s real purpose.

The key to the film is the character of Miranda played exquisitely by Meryl Streep who earned her 14th Oscar nomination for the film and deservedly so. She plays the ice queen role to perfection here keeping the right side of caricature and imbuing her with not only a real sense of menace, but humanity to in a few key scenes when her mask fades just for a moment. The relationship between herself and Andy is well played and the sharp script keeps the action moving at a brisk pace and stops the film veering into cliché or obvious territory. Whilst the film is obviously aimed at the female market there is a lot for everyone to enjoy here, and like I mentioned the subtle way the film plays you leaves you as shaken as the characters when the resolution hits.

The cast is good throughout and the secondary characters are reasonably well developed and realistic and help the film remain constantly entertaining and fun to watch. So, guys, if you feel like getting in your girlfriends good books by watching a film for her you could do a lot worse than this, believe me.

A surprisingly mature film that manages to combine the more obvious audience pleasing elements with a more adult look at growing up and forging an identity independent of where you work and who you hang about with.