The September Issue
Director: R. J. Cutler
Producers: R. J. Cutler, Eliza Hindmarch, Sadia Shepard
[in Australian cinemas August 20]
Behind every great woman is… another great woman.
Such is certainly the case in upcoming documentary The September Issue, which I just saw today. An exposé on the life of infamous Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, The September Issue is renowned for making time with Wintour’s fictionalised character in The Devil Wears Prada look like a walk in Hyde Park.
The film’s narrative throughline is the leadup to the magazine’s annual highlight: the September issue of the magazine. And issues they have. The dramatic tension is built up between Wintour and her fashion editor Grace Coddington, the art and soul of the magazine who started at Vogue the same time as Wintour.
In this way it is very much like Matt Tyrnauer’s doco Valentino, King of Couture, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival last year and charts the similar politics and co-dependency at work between the legendary designer and long-suffering partner.
The politics between the mantis and her prey are cruel and at any moment in The September Issue, we can’t predict whether Coddington will resign, be fired or save the day – and one of these is indeed the film’s outcome.