Product Description

(Drama) "Factory Girl" tells the story of the rise and fall of the original "IT GIRL" Edie Sedgwick. When Edie meets famed artist Andy Warhol, she is thrust into a life of glamour, parties and ultimately…tragedy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4922 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-07-17
• Rating: Unrated
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French, Slovak
• Subtitled in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 99 minutes

Amazon.com
The lovely face of Sienna Miller fills in for luminous but tragic 1960s icon Edie Sedgwick, the child of wealth and privilege who found brief delight but eventual destruction in the fabled Factory of Pop artist Andy Warhol (Guy Pearce). Factory Girl begins with Sedgwick as a naive art student who comes to New York City seeking freedom from her troubled family, just as Warhol was surrounding himself with oddballs, sycophants, and drug addicts. The eager girl briefly becomes Warhol's favorite and the center of the city's attention, but when she falls into an affair with 'The Musician' (the only slightly ambiguous depiction of a certain nasal-voiced rock star, played by Hayden Christensen, Shattered Glass), Warhol is stricken with jealousy. Factory Girl wants to paint Warhol as the villain in this story of innocence corrupted, but the casting undercuts the movie's moral. Miller, though pretty and capable, never takes us under Sedgwick's skin, and Christensen's performance is one-note and clumsy. But Pearce's Warhol fascinates; it's a sneaky, stealthy performance, predatory yet passive, hiding a million neuroses beneath a cunningly vapid facade. Whenever Pearce is on-screen, Factory Girl sparkles; when he's not--despite abundant views of Miller's and Christensen's attractive naked flesh in the "uncut unrated" version--the movie loses its fizz. Also featuring Mena Suvari (American Beauty), Jimmy Fallon (Fever Pitch), and Illeana Douglas (Grace of My Heart). --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

A fantastic film for people who truly did their homework
This film got an exceptional amount of poor reviews by people who had a faint idea of who Edie Sedgwick was and the effect she still has on people today. She was the underground, self-indulgent, addict version of Audrey Hepburn. Everyone wanted to be her. She couldn't help herself, but everyone wanted to help her until they realized the enormity of that task. Edie was a poor little rich girl, yes, but she was raised to be that way. She was someone who was heavily medicated from a young age, someone who was taught to go to others for your problems. She wanted to escape, but the foundation of who she was was never solid enough for her to make it on her own, hence her inability to be completely independent. Enter Andy Warhol, the sychophant who relished in her beauty, charm, and complete lack of self-awareness. She was everything he wasn't, and vice versa. Once Warhol had capitalized on her and milked her dry, he left her wanting, so she found other means. Therewithin is her demise.

Knowing Sedgwick, and especially the nuances of this film, makes you look at it in a different light. The too-fast pace marked by subtleties such as "is the salmon fresh?". If you don't know that era, those people, the Warholian group, you'll dislike this film. Simply because you won't appreciate how much went into developing the characters. Any press will show you that Sienna worked on the role well over a year, Guy lost loads of weight, and Miller had to master a voice that crept away from the person who possessed it in a very short time. Not an easy task.

It's a fantastic film. If nothing else, appreciate the artistry of it.

Devoured and spit out by The Factory
FACTORY GIRL is a portrait of Edie Sedgwick(an outstanding performance by Sienna Miller),born into a well-to-do
back East" family,whose restless ambition and need to be loved brings her to the avant-garde art scene of 1960's New York.She is free,bubbly,vivacious and most of all,a true innocent who gets caught up in the free love,sex,drugs and music of the Cultural-Anti-Establishment Revolution.Her closest "confidantes" are the artists of Andy Warhol's FACTORY,Andy Warhol himself (played by a practically unrecognizable Guy Pearce who plays his role with such creepy coolness and cruelty),and the music and fashion icons of the time.What at first is fun becomes dark and deadly as we watch Edie literally devoured by it all.These people are heartless and will discard you like yesterdays leftovers!Those who so shallowly pretend to be her closest friends stand by numbly (or drugged) as they watch her decent into oblivion which is horrific and almost painfully unwatchable.This is not a pleasant film to watch,but it is so well crafted and acted that one viewing makes it unforgetable.Reminiscent of films such as GIA and JUDY GARLAND:ME AND MY SHADOWS, the outcome is sadly predictable for these once bright stars.

The tragic decline of a bright young 'Factory Girl'
Admittedly, this movie is my first foray into the interesting life story of Edie Sedgwick, one of Andy Warhol's brightest stars and hanger-on's in Warhol's studio, which became known as 'The Factory'. It's definitely a great place to start to peak your interest in the story of Andy and Edie, and the tragedy of Edie's life.

Edie was a blue-blood from an important family, an artist who wanted to explore the big city of New York. She meets Andy Warhol and the two become fast friends. Andy sees in Edie something he can use, and stars Edie is several of his underground movies. The two of them became a sensation, and Edie was suddenly a sweetheart of the New York art scene. Exposure to the wild and willing deviance of Warhol's Factory soon led to Edie's use of drugs. Her trust fund was running low. Then Edie meets Billy Quinn (in real life it was Bob Dylan).

Warhol disapproved of Edie's relationship with Quinn (Dylan) and began to shun her. Edie was devastated by the estrangement of Warhol, her best friend, so she chose Warhol over Quinn, only to discover that Warhol had already written her off as yesterday's news. Edie spiraled into her drug addiction, her trust fund ran out, and her relationship with her rigid parents was already strained past the breaking point. She had no where to go and no one to turn to. Except drugs.

'Factory Girl' is a well-done film. Sienna Miller as Edie was perky and perfect for the role. Hayden Christianson was above his usual performances as Billy Quinn. Guy Pearce was stunningly perfect as Andy Warhol, and watch for SNL's Jimmy Fallon as Edie's friend Chuck Wein. The acting was excellent, the atmosphere captured the 60's, and the photography added that tiny bit of craziness that inundated the era. The movie woke my interest in the Factory, and I was recommended two books, "Edie: American Girl" by Jean Stein and "Factory Made: Warhol And The Sixties" by Steven Watson.

If this subject fascinates you at all, 'Factory Girl' is a great place to start. I recommend watching this film. Enjoy!