Is ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ the most sincere film of our times?
IT was hard to get a ticket for ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ here in Mumbai, which speaks highly of the film’s success over its opening weekend all across the world. The movie theatre I went to had even added shows to meet the demand for the film. Mind you, this was a film whose lead star is a 76-year-old woman, and its story is as boring as, well, journalism is said to be.
People must really care about fashion. Or about ambitious women who fight tooth and nail to keep their jobs. Because the movie theatre had as many (straight) men as it did women showing up to watch this film. The irony is biteable, because as all know now, the film is about the death of print journalism and a 75-year-old editrix and two other 43-year-old female actors hustle to keep their lives and careers on trot.
‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ is possibly the most sincere film I have watched in the last few years. The film rings the death knell for print journalism, highlights how the amazing invasion and reach of digital media killed a face-saving story, how price cuts humbled the most glamorous jobs in the world, how the fashion business has changed, how retail and capitalism dictates everything, how management consultants are mere human bots (loved the potshot at over-rated McKinsey cutting costs to up profits instead of bringing value additions to the company), and how a philanthropic divorced woman with a fat alimony can set everything right again. Whew!
Take it from someone who has been in the fashion game for over 25 years now (pre-Instagram, pre-smartphones, and mostly pre-Internet in offices too): both journalism and the fashion business are exactly like how the film says they are.
Holding on to a well-paying job is impossible, whether in newspapers or magazines. Either you take home the same salary from nearly two decades ago, or you leave. Writers are the first heads to roll. Management is the only one that takes home a fat paycheck. Editors are asked to do all sorts of things except write and curate news: throw parties and ensure an A-list guest list, anchor video content for no extra pay, and, in my case by a former employer, “ask your friends to give us money”.
Yes, we fly Economy. In the last decade maybe, I have flown Business twice.
It’s also a remarkably feminist film. All the wonderful, bright, memorable, ethical, brave and clever characters are female – right from Miranda Priestly to Sasha Barnes to Andy’s assistant Jin Chao. The men with money are power-drunk, blubbering buffoons – Irv Ravitz, Benji Barnes and Jay Ravitz. (Jay wears only athleisure and likes to have board meetings in the office cafeteria).
There’s also no mention of Nate, Andy’s cheese-burger-friendly boyfriend who gaslit her into choosing between him and a thriving career. Andy’s new love interest is an Australian green flag who has done his due diligence by reading her articles before their first date.
But oh, the inside jokes in ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ are just delightful. I laughed out loud at the scene in Milan where Emily Blunt’s Dior head is lunching with Donatella Versace (the real formaggio) only to be interrupted by Anne Hathaway’s Andy. Donatella complains, “Don’t keep me waiting”, only to get back an earful from Emily. The scene reflects the power dynamics between Italian and French labels, the Italian ones (especially Versace and Dolce & Gabbana) are famously founder-owned and don’t want to sell equity to the French behemoths.
There’s a line about Dolce & Gabbana handing out freebies to celebrities at Irv Ravitz’s funeral, and well, the designer duo have earned that reputation.
The scene has moved from snobby, greedy Paris to the more passionate Milan, with a peep of the possibly the most ethical designer of all – Brunello Cucinelli. Cucinelli has famously adopted his village Solomeo and turned his business into the town’s biggest employer of locals, repaired roads and fountains, and advocated the idea of “human capitalism”.
I loved the scene with Marc Jacobs, and the act by Lady Gaga. I showed off pointing out Winnie Harlow, Heidi Klum and Law Roach to my suitably impressed friends.
I loved the first ‘The Devil Wears Prada’, the film and the book both. But the sequel truly does hit it out of the park. If the first film was about the power of fashion, toxic bosses and boyfriends we must dump; the second is an affectionate, sentimental chronicle of what we have lost. This film has more honesty, and certainly more gravitas. (Also great fashion, courtesy the legendary costume designer Patricia Field’s assistant Molly Rogers). The movie’s villain is not the toxic female boss, it’s man-made capitalism. The female boss is now the film’s hero and saviour.
On another note, Miranda Priestly should have tried doing a podcast. Those one-liners could have spawned a new film already.
