The Devil Wears Prada: Deviously Dazzling and Definitely Worth Re-watching!
Seventeen years after its premiere in 2006, the Devil Wears Prada is now a classic about the fashion industry, the characters that strut its runways, and its cultural gatekeepers. The movie continues to excite and intrigue with repeated viewings. Its conflicts and warped sense of priorities set the stage for controversies and an overdue discussion about weight, body image, and professional narcissism.
Perfectly coiffed and purse-lipped Miranda Priestley (Meryl Streep), the dragon lady terrorizing her staff in the hallowed hallways of Runway magazine, is spoofed and virally recreated still on social media. Viewers keep rediscovering and relishing in her cruel verbal lashings at her assistants. Her lecture about the million-dollar difference between blue and cerulean lands like hammer blows.
Strong-willed Northwestern graduate and aspiring journalist Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) interviews for an assistant job at America’s fictional and influential fashion magazine. Andy’s bulky trench coat sticks out like a sore thumb betraying her shabby lack of style amid Runway’s pump-heeled staff in tailored blazers.
Shockingly, Miranda hires Andy to her legion of staff. The impossible quest of satisfying the icy diva’s endless demands begins. First Assistant Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt) begrudgingly briefs Andy on the unspoken rules of avoiding her boss’s wrath.
Nigel (Stanley Tucci) is the queen bee’s right hand. He knows how to decipher her complicated code of approval and rejection. When Andy inevitably fails to meet the she-devil’s impossible standards, he mentors her on Runway’s culture of style and starvation. Andy rises in Miranda’s esteem by accomplishing one ludicrous task after another.
Andy becomes fashion-forward by raiding Runway’s abundant closets. Her ambitions get the best of her as her priorities shift. In a lapse of judgment, she walks into a flirtatious triangle between her boy-next-door boyfriend Nate, and the dazzling journalist Christian Thompson. The plot climaxes at Paris Fashion Week, where Miranda forces her to choose between her two worlds.
Much of the film’s allure rests on the commanding performance delivered by Meryl Streep. Streep inhabits her character through the tiniest mannerisms, a judgemental cocking of the head, or piercing glances through a pair of Gucci glasses.
Hathaway’s understated charm and subdued gaze complement Streep’s dramatic flourishes. A few minutes into the movie, one cannot but root for Andy’s uphill climb to please her boss. Blunt’s amusing neuroticism and Tucci’s approachable sophistication stand out on their own in the star-studded cast.
Scriptwriter Aline Brosh McKenna arms Streep with unforgettable one-liners. “By all means, move at a glacial pace; you know how that thrills me,” she chastizes Andy with studied irony. “Florals for spring? Groundbreaking” is her icy put-down in editorial meetings.
Director David Frankel confidently and strategically juxtaposes pace and substance. Andy’s frantic rushings through New York traffic to pick up meals, scarves, and unpublished manuscripts are adrenaline-packed sequences. The more revealing scenes about her emotional intelligence and Miranda’s astute understanding of her assistant’s skill counter-balance the earlier montages.
Theodore Shapiro’s guitar and percussion scoring meshes with energetic pop features by Madonna, Seal, and KT Tunstall. Much of this movie’s contemporary urban soundtrack has made my playlist.
The stunning 1 million dollar collection of Channel, Versace, and Vivienne Westwood play up the mystique of the glitz and glamour of fashion and New York’s gleaming skyscrapers.
Whether you appreciate fashion or not, The Devil Wears Prada is an iconic production that has earned its place in the microcosm of unforgettable movies.