Archived: Feb 26, 2007

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You“re the boss, applesauce

By Christy Brownfield

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Warholâ??s use of women as a source of inspiration that can run dry at any time is immoral but hardly uncommon. In Paris, Yves Saint-Laurent sucked in and threw out his muses at the drop of a hat. It is the nature of creativity.

“Factory Girl” is the story of a girl who is used up and spit out. A creator needs his muse, and Andy Warhol had Edie Sedgwick.

The film starts off in the early “60s, as Edie (Sienna Miller) comes to New York with her friend Chuck (Jimmy Fallon) to make it in the art world.

Meeting Warhol (Guy Pierce) at a party is the beginning of a slow, painful end for the West Coast debutant-heiress. The draw to fame is intoxicating for Edie, and Warhol is equally enamored with the newest beauty on the party scene.

Director George Hickenlooper“s camera use captures the essence of the “60s and the turmoil in a life of lights, needles and cameras. The amazing use of music helps the movie move along as well, because much of the movie feels shallow.

Although the film is more of an interpretation of Edie“s life, rather than a factual account, the interpretation falls short of the mystery and allure the legend of Edie created.

Miller, a dead ringer for real-life Sedgwick, puts on an outstanding performance, capturing the feel and voice of the woman she is playing. Her onscreen romance with a “folk singer” (Hayden Christianson) who looks and sounds suspiciously like Bob Dylan (although amid lawsuits from Bob“s camp, the filmmaker insists he is a composite of several leading “60s musicians) shows obvious chemistry.

Perhaps the rumors are true that the duo were not faking the love-making scenes.

“Folk singer“s” roll in “Factory Girl” is that of savior; but Edie does not want to be saved, and Warhol“s blatant dislike for Edie“s new man leaves her expelled from the only people she knows. Life is not so glamorous on the outside looking in.

Warhol“s use of women as a source of inspiration that can run dry at any time is immoral but hardly uncommon. In Paris, Yves Saint-Laurent sucked in and threw out his muses at the drop of a hat. It is the nature of creativity. Warhol does not see his own actions and thinks Edie chooses ugliness on her own.

The title, “Factory Girl” is quite fitting, as Edie is a product of Warhol“s factory, the space where he created his art.

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