THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA: Blu-ray (20th Century-Fox 2006) Fox Home Video

Director, David Frankel’s The Devil Wears Prada (2006) is an astute, often unflattering backstage pass into the glittering glam-bam of Manhattan’s fashion industry, a world inhabited by shallow vixens, scheming backstabbers, professional jealousies run amok, and, of course, an unrelenting drive to succeed, whatever the costs. Aline Brosh McKenna’s screenplay is loosely based on Lauren Weisberger's 2003 novel; the picture, headlined by a tour de force and Oscar-nominated performance from Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly, the viper in high heels editor of a top-flight fashion magazine. The role is rumored to have been modeled on Vogue’s ruthless editor in chief, Anna Wintour, although Streep has lent it a bone-chilling texture, layering and attitude all her own. 2oth Century-Fox outbid several studios to produce the movie; Frankel given a fairly lavish shoot of 57 days, most of them spent in New York City, with several more in Paris, and $41 million to recreate the milieu of high style at a glance. Grossing over $300 million at the box office, The Devil Wears Prada is significantly void of any participation from real designers and other fashion notables – most of them scared off by Wintour’s threat to blacklist them from her Bible of fashion, although some escaped Wintour’s scrutiny, lending many of their creations for the movie, thus making it one of the costliest, purely from the vantage of ‘costume design’. Perhaps, some of the scathing indictments foisted upon Wintour’s private sphere of influence hit a little too close to home.

The picture marked Frankel’s return to movie-making after nearly a decade-long absence, encouraging cinematographer, Florian Ballhaus and costume designer, Patricia Field to draw on their collaborative experiences working on HBO’s Sex and the City. But Frankel initially felt The Devil Wears Prada was more of a satire than a love story, and, in accepting the project, brought to it a greater sense of anchored realism than was originally intended. Fox VP, Carla Hecken green-lit the project after only seeing the first hundred pages of manuscript, deeming that the strength of the piece would undoubtedly be Streep’s vindictive maven. And indeed, Streep’s central performance is what fuels and sustains the action throughout, despite the second act heavy lean on a troubled romance between Andrea ‘Andy’ Sachs (played by a winsome Anne Hathaway, whose fashion-naiveté is about to be put to the test) and aspiring chef, Nate Cooper (winningly fleshed out by Adrian Grenier). Feathered somewhere into this mix are Stanley Tucci, as the effete Nigel Kipling, Miranda’s right-hand man, who also turns out to be Andy’s one true friend, and, Emily Blunt, as Miranda’s embittered lead office assistant, Emily Charlton. Curiously, Weisberger had not completed her book at the time Fox elected to go ahead with the movie, necessitating script changes after the book became a best seller. Even so, the last act of the movie marks a considerable departure from the novel.

One of the foremost alterations made to the movie was in allowing the character of Miranda Priestly her modicum of redemption. The book paints the character broadly as a clichéd villainess, unscrupulous and enterprising to a fault. In the movie, Miranda is witnessed, willingly letting Andy go, and even offering her own back-handed compliment, guaranteed to secure her employment elsewhere in the wiles of publishing as a writer. “My view,” Frankel later confessed, “…was that we should be grateful for excellence. Why do the excellent people have to be nice?” To this end, no less than four screenwriters took on the challenge of translating from page to screen; Peter Hedges – who delivered a first draft, Paul Rudnick, whose greatest contributions marked the evolution of Miranda’s character,  Don Roos – offering a complete rewrite, and finally, Aline Brosh McKenna, who projected her own youthful experiences about pursuing a career in journalism on the character of Andy. McKenna also initially tempered Miranda's venom, only to reinstate it at Streep’s behest. Ultimately, the character that gave McKenna the most pause was Andrea's boyfriend, Nate, a part usually ascribed in other movies to the male protagonist’s gal Friday, who reminds the male lead of his responsibilities currently being neglected at home.

One of the key moments in The Devil Wears Prada has Miranda admonishing Andy for her apparent lack of taste and slum-prudery regarding the importance ‘fashion’ plays in all our lives. The Cerulean sweater speech was initially cut from the working script, a decision that left Streep imploring McKenna to reconsider and expand upon it. Drawing upon ‘brand decision-making, marketing and business, as well as in keeping with Miranda’s overriding contempt for this ‘smart fat girl’ who has invaded her territory without actually investing completely in its principled rules, the Cerulean sweater sequence continued to evolve in McKenna’s mind; McKenna, sending Streep a palette of colors to consider. Of these, Streep picked Cerulean, and thus, the immortality of that speech was born – shot word for word as Streep’s signature moment in the picture, exposing the route by which even the most extremist exemplars of high fashion eventually trickle down to influence the casual buyer, unaware of their significance.

Interesting today, to consider that while Streep was Hacken and McKenna’s first and only choice for the role of Miranda, Weisberger thought her ‘all wrong’ until the first day’s shooting had been completed. And Streep almost did not accept it, as the paltry $2 million being offered for her services was mildly regarded as insulting. Fox acquiesced, doubling that figure. And Streep, who viewed the role as her opportunity to pierce through the insidious hypocrisies of the fashion world, accepted it with vigor and venom. The casting of Anne Hathaway came about by happenstance after Rachel McAdams, the desired front runner, kept turning it down at every possible opportunity. By contrast, Hathaway aggressively pursued the role, eventually winning Hacken and Frankel over. Nevertheless, she was a nervous wreck on the set; anxiety only mildly assuaged when Streep informed Hathaway she was looking forward to the experience of working with her, but that this would be the last cordial thought she would offer her costar. More than a hundred faces were paraded for the part of Emily, before Emily Blunt came to the producers’ attention. Indeed, Blunt, who was preparing for another role at the time, went in and read for the part practically on the fly and in her British accent, even though the character in the book is American. Her wit and accent proved a refreshing departure from the endless line of other hopefuls and charmed Frankel completely. As the deadline for principle photography neared, Stanley Tucci entered the picture.

Determined to give the movie a real ‘New York’ flavor, Frankel’s standing order to cinematographer, Florian Ballhaus was to get as much of the background into every scene as possible – the city, a major character in the piece. For the most part, what appears in the movie is all full-scale, although several process shots were required, mostly viewed behind apartment windows and during scenes involving a car. In the eleventh hour, it looked as though the studio would not permit Frankel to shoot the movie’s penultimate ‘fashion week’ extravaganza in Paris. Mercifully, after screening the attempted recreation of Paris on the backlot, Fox relented, affording Frankel a few days shoot overseas, although Meryl Streep was not allowed to partake of it, to keep cost overruns in check. And Streep, who prepped for the part by reading a book written by Wintour’s protégé, Liz Tilberis, as well as the memoirs of Vogue editor, Diana Vreeland, set about creating Miranda Priestly by making the conscious decision not to ape Anna Wintour; Streep’s own clipped delivery melded onto Clint Eastwood’s low and sustained approach to dialogue, becoming far more contemptuous and sinister by direct comparison. For the character’s physical manifestation, Streep borrowed the bouffant from model/actress, Carmen Dell'Orefice wed to an invulnerable sophistication and confidence, gleaned from French politico, Christine Lagarde.

The movie begins with our foray into the fashion world, observing various models departing their Manhattan apartments on route to their place of work. From here we are introduced to Andrea Sachs – the veritable antithesis of these Glamazons; a recent college graduate and aspiring journalist who, after hitting every detour an ingenue can when first seeking out new employment in her chosen field, relents and interviews for an assistant’s position at ‘Runway’ Magazine. After all, the bills need to be paid! But this formidable kingdom of sketch and design is run by barracuda, Miranda Priestly; a sadist in patent leather, whose sense of personal entitlement allows her to mistreat staff with equal contempt and disregard. Hired on a whim, as Miranda later puts it – taking a chance on the “smart, fat girl”, Andy soon realizes she has entered a lair of heightened temptations she knows absolutely nothing about. Her only guide is Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt) - an uppity senior assistant who chides Andy every chance she gets. Predictably, Andy repeatedly falters in her initial – and quite demanding – assignments. She confides to her live-in boyfriend, Nate that her days are numbered. She has repeatedly incurred Miranda’s wrath. But then the unexpected happens; a quiet mutual understanding after Andy achieves the seemingly impossible coup for Miranda of getting her snotty twin daughters a copy of the ‘as yet unpublished’, latest Harry Potter manuscript. Andy’s one semi-sympathetic confidant within ‘Runway’s’ hallowed halls is assistant editor, Nigel who is all too familiar with the backroom politics and shifting alliances that make up this world of haute couture. However, as time wears on and patience wears thinner still, Andy begins to understand how much of a sacrifice is involved. The only question thereafter – is she willing to sell out for ‘the good life?’

It would appear so as Andy casually meets, and begins to fall for notorious womanizer, Christian Thompson (Simon Baker). Meanwhile, Andy begins to take ‘fashion’ seriously, adopting Runway’s philosophy for her own, and, in the process, alienating her friends while putting a strain on her romance with Nate. However, Andy’s transformation is not without its perks. Indeed, Miranda begins to see her as a viable successor to accompany her to fashion week in Paris, something Emily has been dreaming about for a long time. Losing her health to extreme dieting, Emily is accidentally struck by a car in Time Square while on a mission for Miranda, leaving Andy to pick up the slack. Having already experienced Miranda’s wrath, and her own horrible marriage to Stephen (James Naughton), it comes as no surprise when Miranda confides she has decided to file for divorce. In the meantime, Nigel confides in Andy he is leaving to accept the post of Creative Director with rising designer, James Holt. Alas, Miranda double-crosses this prospect by encouraging her rival at Runway, Jacqueline Follet (Stephanie Szostak) to accept this position with Holt instead. But the real turning of the tide occurs after Andy stumbles upon Christian, with whom she has since become sexually involved, having bedded another girl in her absence. Realizing what an all-around colossal error in judgement she has made, Andy dumps Christian, returns to Nate, and informs Miranda she will not be continuing her employment with Runway – leaving Miranda to go it alone in Paris. Sometime later, in applying for work at a small indie newspaper, Andy is questioned about her ‘stint’ at Runway – not at all the proving ground for a writer interested in women’s rights and politics. Attempting to back-peddle her way through an apology of sorts, Andy is bewildered when the editor informs her, not only did Miranda trash her reference, but she also informed him that if he did not immediately hire Andy, he was the biggest fool in town. With her new position secured, Andy strolls past Runway’s gleaming offices, spotting Miranda exiting the building. The two briefly regard one another before Miranda haughtily gets into the back of a limousine. However, as she departs, a thin smile creeps across her face. Perhaps, she sees something of herself in Andy’s willfulness to do exactly as she pleases, and this, in turn, pleases her.

The Devil Wears Prada is an unexpectedly introspective, daring and insightful movie that uses the backdrop of fashion as an exhilarating milieu to basically tell the tale of two strong-minded women who want what they want and go after it in their own ways to ultimately achieve success. Miranda’s way is with the sledgehammer of deceit. Mercifully, Andy has learned her lessons the hard way. She may never assail such heights in business, but she will be a success nonetheless. Director, Frankel is working from a brilliant screenplay that goes much deeper into the subculture of ‘creating beautiful images’ to sell next year’s spring line. We are given substance with purpose, and, purpose with rich characterizations that transcend the gaudiness and glitz of this highly stylized make-believe. It is refreshing to see Hathaway grown into something of a fine actress since her Princess Diary days. I am not a Hathaway fan. But she is nevertheless engaging, appealing and very sympathetic in this part and the perfect counterpoint to Meryl Streep’s terminator in shoulder pads.  Streep is, of course, perfection itself as the hard-edged bitch of the boardroom, her Teflon-coating tinged by personal failures kept hidden from public view, in stark contrast to the glacial autonomy she commands at work.  Stanley Tucci is delicious as the jaded, though clairvoyant, gay ‘spirit guide’ for Andy’s transformation from naïve girl to fashion savvy waif. The Devil Wears Prada is a great film – not simply for its performances, but because it intimately understands the world it is trying to recreate, and, is able to convey the depth and weight of its subject matter – not merely extol and celebrate its superficial veneer.

Yep, here we go again. Fox Home Video stiffs us on their Blu-ray release. I cannot understand the executive brain trust that continues to farm out tired old masters of movies that could as easily have been derived from original camera negatives – and, minus the extra features Fox used to include on their DVD’s. Ho-hum. The Devil Wears Prada gets a single-layered ‘uptick’ and looks marginally better on Blu than it did on DVD. Colors are robust and vibrant. Flesh tones are very natural. Contrast is ideally balanced. Blacks are velvety smooth and deep. Whites are pristine. The overall image is crisp and sharp without being digitally harsh. Fine details are evident even during the darkest scenes. Edge enhancement is briefly detected but pixelization and other anomalies do not exist.  This looks like a straight import of the same digital files used to mint the DVD rather than a tru-1080p re-scan. The audio is 5.1 Dolby Digital – not even lossless – but nevertheless delivers an aggressive spread. Bottom line: I’d really like to see The Devil Wears Prada in full 1080p, or even 4K.  It likely will not happen, given Fox’s recent acquisition by Disney Inc. and that studio’s affinity for hoarding virtually everything they own in their vaults, occasionally trundled out for streaming. For shame!  

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

4.5

VIDEO/AUDIO

3.5

EXTRAS

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