The September Issue

Director RJ Cutler here presents a real-life portrait of the world of American Vogue magazine and its English-born editor-in-chief Anna Wintour (reputedly the inspiration for Meryl Streep's Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada). Resisting the temptation to go for cheap laughs, Cutler opts for something that's both more incisive and highly entertaining. The ironies are subtle, including editor-at-large André Leon Talley filmed with his private tennis coach, dressed in designer sportswear, and insisting that even on-court style is paramount - though his ground strokes would embarrass a ten-year-old. There are no prima-donna blow-ups - Wintour is famously icy and the tension is all the more memorable for being understated, particularly when it involves long-time lieutenant Grace Coddington, the only person who stands up to Wintour. What the film lacks, however, is the dissident voice of outsiders and the many who have come and gone on Vogue, because, in Coddington's words, they "couldn't take the heartbreak".