Plot Details: This opinion reveals no details about the movie's plot.

A film on the life and demise of Factory Superstar Edie Sedgwick, well played as a naively charming "poor little rich girl" by Sienna Miller.

"After one look at Taxi I could see that she had more problems than anybody I'd ever met. So beautiful but so sick. I was intrigued."
- Andy Warhol, writing on Edie Sedgwick, "From A to B and Back Again: The Philosophy of Andy Warhol" (1975).

One should not lose sight of the fact that "Factory Girl" is a fictionalised account of the life of one of Andy Warhol's film muses, Edie Sedgwick. This is not a documentary.

"Factory Girl" is a lightweight and impressionistic ramble through the Factory years, with characters who, although they fail to engage the viewer in any empathic sense, are nonetheless colourful, cool, detached, and pop:

"During the 60s, I think, people forgot what emotions were supposed to be. And I don't think they ever remembered."
- Andy Warhol.

The screenplay, written by Captain Mauzner, was described by musician Lou Reed, who knew Edie, as "one of the most disgusting, foul things I've seen - by any illiterate retard - in a long time. There's no limit to how low some people will go to write something to make money."

This criticism from the songwriter who made a fortune with salacious lyrics like "But she never lost her head / Even when she was giving head". Lou Reed has relentlessly overestimated his artistic worth for years.

The story is narrated by an Edie in therapy, and has multiple and ultimately quite confusing story lines and allusions to the goings-on of the Factory.

Edie falls out of favour with Warhol after a romance with an annoying and boring character played by Hayden Christensen, referred to in the credits only as "The Musician", primarily because Bob Dylan threatened to sue if his name was mentioned in this movie. I can see why. Any character who throws a perfectly good Triumph Bonneville into a lake is never going to be popular. At least, not with me.

Guy Pearce ("The Proposition", "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert") presents a deliciously queer Warhol; vacillating, ambiguous, and miserly to a fault. The film is worth a viewing if only for Pearce's classic characterisation.

Sienna Miller gives a creditable performance as Edie, even though her character lacks warmth and fails to engage the viewer. Edie Sedgwick died in 1971 from a combination of barbiturate poisoning and alcohol. Many critics of this movie have complained that they can feel no sympathy for Edie's drug abusing character. They adopt the "she brought it all on herself" line. What i can't understand is, if these critics are pushing this line - one of them actually quoted the "just say no" mantra - why would they want the movie to make us feel empathy for Edie?

For me, the distracted, self-absorbed, unlikeable and compulsive demeanour of the characters seemed to accurately reflect their amphetamine abuse.

Ultimately, "Factory Girl" is a moderately insightful film about the "problem of the muse".

"She had a poignantly vacant, vulnerable quality that made her a reflection of everybody's private fantasies. Taxi could be anything you wanted her to be - a little girl, a woman, intelligent, dumb, rich, poor - anything. She was a wonderful, beautiful blank. The mystique to end all mystiques."
- Andy Warhol "From A to B and Back Again"


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older