Movie · 2011 · Drama, Romance · 1h 59m · R · English
Curator score: 0.9/10 (20K ratings)
Their affair ignited a scandal. Their passion brought down an empire.
Overview
In 1998, an auction of the estate of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor causes great excitement. For one woman, Wally Winthrop, it has much more meaning. Wally becomes obsessed by their historic love story. As she learns more about the sacrifices involved, Wally gains her own courage to find happiness.
Ratings
Curator score: 0.9/10
IMDb: 6.2/10
Letterboxd: 2.89/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 12%
Metacritic: 37
TMDB: 6.3/10
Director
Madonna
Production
Semtex Films, IM Global
Cast
Abbie Cornish, Andrea Riseborough, James D'Arcy, Oscar Isaac, Richard Coyle, David Harbour, James Fox, Judy Parfitt, Haluk Bilginer, Geoffrey Palmer, Natalie Dormer, Laurence Fox, Douglas Reith, Katie McGrath, Christina Chong, Annabelle Wallis, Liberty Ross, Penny Downie, Suzanne Bertish, Ben Willbond
Where to watch
Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A glossy, emotionally earnest romance-drama with striking period design and a strong score, but it’s also overlong, unevenly written, and often feels more interested in style and fetishized detail than in fully earning its historical or emotional claims. Worth a look if you’re curious about a visually polished, melodramatic prestige experiment; less so if you need sharp scripting or rigorous history.
Best for
Viewers drawn to lush costume drama and romantic obsession
Fans of visually expressive, music-driven melodrama
People interested in flawed auteur vanity projects
Audiences who don’t mind historical fiction taking big liberties
Skip if
You want tight pacing and disciplined storytelling
You’re sensitive to revisionist history or soft-pedaled politics
You dislike melodrama that leans heavily on mood and surfaces
You’re expecting a fully persuasive romance rather than a stylized one
Overview
W.E. is the kind of film that can feel both ridiculous and strangely sincere at the same time. Madonna stages the story as a fever dream of luxury, longing, and emotional projection, with immaculate costumes, polished production design, and a score that does a lot of the heavy lifting. The modern framing device is thin, but the movie’s commitment to atmosphere is undeniable.
Worth noting
What keeps it from collapsing entirely is the cast, especially the way the two timelines mirror each other through performance and visual rhyme. The film is at its most effective when it treats obsession as a form of self-invention, and when it lets the music and imagery carry the emotional charge. It’s also hard to ignore how much of the movie is built around surfaces: jewels, gowns, rooms, glances, gestures.
Bottom line
That same surface fascination is also its biggest weakness. The script is blunt, the historical perspective is shaky, and the emotional arc can feel manufactured rather than discovered. Still, for viewers open to a lavish, imperfect melodrama with real visual confidence, W.E. has enough style and strange conviction to remain interesting.
Top Letterboxd reviews
makeely (1★) · 103 likes
the longest jewellery ad of my fucking life
Graham Williamson (1★) · 81 likes
Previously best known to me as the progenitor of my favourite Mark Kermode rant of all time, everything I'd heard about Madonna's revisionist telling of Wallis Simpson and the Edward VIII abdication crisis painted it as hilariously awful. From the refashioning of Simpson's character to make her more like - well, like Madonna, frankly, to the whitewashing of the couple's Nazi sympathies, through historical howlers like a fake newsreel referring to George V as George III (er, only 200 years… more Previously best known to me as the progenitor of my favourite Mark Kermode rant of all time, everything I'd heard about Madonna's revisionist telling of Wallis Simpson and the Edward VIII abdication crisis painted it as hilariously awful. From the refashioning of Simpson's character to make her more like - well, like Madonna, frankly, to the whitewashing of the couple's Nazi sympathies, through historical howlers like a fake newsreel referring to George V as George III (er, only 200 years… more
Vanina (1.5★) · 55 likes
Who wouldn't rather shag Oscar Isaac than Jeff from 'Coupling' playing an emotionally manipulative (and physically abusive) cuntbag?
Stunning cinematography is wasted on a flatter-than-flat script. Had this been 85 minutes long instead of a full two hours it would have been almost bearable, but as it is, it's a run-down structure of Abbie Cornish looking longingly at teacups in the run-up to an auction, and then, hey, let's go back into time to see that teacup being used! The… more
Ella (4★) · 49 likes
I still believe that in ten years everyone's going to turn around and admit that this is a good film. Not perfect, but very good.
bauti (2★) · 48 likes
one star for oscar isaac's ass and another star for oscar isaac tongue kissing