DVD OF THE WEEK: The September Issue

The September Issue
Directed by R.J. Cutler
2009, 90 minutes, USA

Cutler's luxuriant pop doc takes a fly-on-the-wall peek at how one of the titular editions of Vogue magazine (colloquially known in the fashion industry as "The Bible") is produced, and 2007's Sienna Miller-covered 840-pager was clearly a dishy ish to document. Editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, the Prada-clad devil herself, inexplicably allowed Cutler intimate access to her daily wheeling, dealing and notorious ice-queeny disapproval, yet remains as guarded in plain sight as Bob Dylan was in Dont Look Back. The film was shot in the eight months leading up to the release of what's still the thickest in magazine history, and culled from over 300 hours of footage to streamline a vibrant narrative about both the workplace machinations and the uneasy collaboration between Queen Wintour and her more grounded creative director Grace Coddington. Their back-and-forth, enhanced by the bitchy asides, pronounced eye-rolling and frightened Anna-pleasing of the supporting players, is deliciously entertaining if not exactly nutritious for the soul.

What's fabulous about the newly released DVD of The September Issue is that it includes a second disc with over 90 minutes of deleted scenes, allowing viewers another taste of the industry at its most influential and utterly ridiculous. It's true that in narrative filmmaking, deleted material usually proves to have been excised for good reason (it's either garbage or filler) and doesn't carry as much perceived extra value as it did in the early days of digital home video, but the carefully curated content here hints at how the story arc was shaped since docs are "scripted" in post-production. Cutler and his team captured choice content with Wintour (including her eulogy at Isabella Blow's funeral), Coddington (a home tour of personal photos and memorabilia from her former life as a model), editor-at-large André Leon Talley (whose literally larger-than-life appearance and behavior were reduced to comic relief in the film), and an extended version of the Miller cover shoot, most of which is compelling but doesn't serve the Coddington-Wintour dynamic that the film wisely focuses on. There's also more of shrimpy Thai designer Thakoon, a boring but necessary presence in the film (and more the former than latter in the supplements), but hey, Sarah Jessica Parker and Michelle Obama sure love his couture!

At this point, it might seem like only fashionistas and their devotees would want to bother with the second disc since it is as long as the film itself, but personally, my favorite scene wasn't even in the feature but a cutting-room floor scrap. "Nuclear Wintour" earned her nickname for a reason, but even hyper-conscious of her on-camera image, it's only when she's in the company of her daughter Katherine ("Bee") that we see hints of her unshielded off-work demeanor. Cutler chooses not to explore this in the film, save for one illustrative scene in which Bee—a member of a different generation and decidedly non-fashion-related world who doesn't give much weight to her mother's empire of superficiality—practically rolls her eyes at Anna's shop talk.

The unexpectedly hilarious deleted scene that most richly depicts the duplicitous nature of Wintour between fierce empress and doting mother takes place at a private showcase with designer extraordinaire Karl Lagerfeld, Anna and tagalong Bee. The white-haired German wackadoo presents an idea of having a discount shop separate from his regular storefront so that customers who want to pay full price won't have to rub elbows with those who favor a bargain. Sitting beside her daughter and Lagerfeld, Anna's facial expression subtly changes as she tries not to embarrass herself in front of either party (yes, Bee, I know that's idiotic... yes, Karl, that's not a shabby idea...), speaking volumes without saying a word, but was ultimately not necessary to chronicle the more dramatic angle Cutler discovered in the editing suite.

Posted by ahillis at March 1, 2010 9:29 PM