Madonna's directorial feature W.E. seems like a statelier version of Julie and Julia: A woman name Wally Winthrop (Abbie Cornish) living in 1998 New York is enamored by the decades-old romance of Wallis Simpson (Andrea Riseborough) and Prince Edward (James D'Arcy). New stills from the film -- which will premiere at the Venice Film Festival before heading to Toronto -- owe less to, say, The King's Speech and more to movies in Madonna's own oeuvre.
[UPDATE, 9:40 a.m. ET -- Aug. 2: The Weinstein Company notes that these stills have not officially been released; TIFF has removed them from its Web site, and so Movieline has followed suit.]
Wallis Simpson looks like she's about ready for the Evita premiere in that first still. I know I bring him up constantly, but in black and white, James D'Arcy is a dead ringer for Anthony Perkins. He's like if Anthony Perkins starred in The Talented Mr. Ripley, which is too wonderful an idea to dwell upon here.
Otherwise, the beach-bouncing, butter-colored splendor is slightly reminiscent of Swept Away. Ouch? I'll be nice and admit it also smacks of the Herb Ritts-directed video for Madonna's "Cherish." Some of the costuming bears a resemblance to the veiled glamor in "Take a Bow," and that's good news: We recently named "Take a Bow" Madonna's finest video performance. Here's hoping the romance of that clip also transcends time and imbues Abbie Cornish with melancholy balladeer energy.
[via TIFF]