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Rating: Edie Sedgwick earned herself a biopic of her own, despite her notoriety being solely based on her being a flash in the pan in the universe of Warhol and (perhaps) Bob Dylan. Yet, Factory Girl is a film that, if nothing else, has the merit of reminding us that ephemeral fame is not a phenomenon born with social media. Perhaps unjustly criticized, the film somewhat unconvincingly proposes the theory that Edie was a misunderstood artist, stifled by Warhol's overwhelming ego, who, after squeezing her as a muse and actress, abandoned her out of jealousy. Replaced with other Factory superstars—other meteors destined to burn out in the inevitable Warholian quarter hour—Edie ends up embodying a good example of a tragic, disposable pop icon.
The film deserves at least one viewing, if only for the excellent performance by Sienna Miller, who manages to give depth to a character that perhaps didn't have any. The controversies surrounding the film have been numerous: Lou Reed called it "repulsive," while Dylan, in his usual magnanimity, even prohibited the use of his name. Certainly, to judge it fairly one would need an in-depth knowledge of the Factory scene, but even without that, one can suppose that the film hit the mark, if it angered some of the protagonists of the era.
The narrative unfolds mainly in 1965, with some forays into 1970, recounting Edie's rise and fall. Arriving in New York as an art student, she's immediately ensnared by the sleazy Warhol (Guy Pearce), who drags her into a whirlwind of parties, drugs, and alcohol. Fragile and sensitive, Edie attempts to establish a deeper relationship with him, but Andy, notoriously an emotion vampire, is only interested in exploiting her image to promote his questionable films. As a cynical journalist wrote: "For Andy, showing up with Edie was a bit like being Vadim with Deneuve, and not just Andy the gay guy."
To complicate matters further, Dylan enters the scene (hypocritically renamed "the folk singer Billy Quinn" in the film). Edie tries to introduce him to the Factory circle, but between him and Warhol, there's immediate animosity. Andy, out of spite, sidelines Edie; Billy, for his part, doesn't prove much more empathetic and leaves her to her fate. From there on, Edie's downward trajectory follows a script already written: drugs, degradation, stays in detox clinics, and finally death by overdose at 28. Meanwhile, Warhol had already found other muses to have his photo taken with.
It should be noted, however, that Edie, a scion of a very wealthy family with a history of abuse and mental illness, was already well on the path to self-destruction before meeting Warhol. As for her alleged talent, it remains a mystery what it consisted of, other than the ability to get noticed. With or without Andy, her trajectory would probably have been the same. Dylan, with his usual elusive attitude, stated: "I wasn't there, and if I was, I was playing a protest song." More seriously, he dismissed Edie as a shadow in his life, though it is said that "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" and "Just Like a Woman" were inspired by her.
Side note: Dylan's screen tests for Warhol are available on YouTube. If you're interested in seeing how bored and unconvinced Dylan was, and how incapable Warhol was at directing, they are a small masterpiece in their own right.
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