Dressed for success

Rating: 9/10 (1 October 2006)

Something rare and beautiful has come out of the film adaptation of Lauren Wiesberger's roman a clef novel about working as a PA on a high fashion magazine: we have a new camp classic.
The Devil Wears Prada will sit alongside 'All About Eve', 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane' and, of course, 'Mommie Dearest' on the DVD shelves of gay men everywhere, to be quoted reverently and brought out for themed parties and such like.
Also, relief for Meryl Streep. After years of trying to shake her somewhat dowdy and severe image as an actress through various comedy misfires, she proves she can truly nail a comic lead by turning in a performance at once so effortless and so refined as Anna Wintour's wardrobe. Streep, as Priestley, incidentally is turned out like Cruella De Ville at a Versace fire sale.
It is in achieving this flawless level of studied hauteur and languid disdain as Miranda Priestley in delivering every sentence and every withering look as 'Runway''s iconic Editor-in-Chief, that will see Streep take her place on a pedestal along Bette, Liza, Barbara and Faye, and see Miranda Priestley ascend to the pantheon of great camp characters.
Everything else pales. The other leads are there to accessorize, which they do dutifully and with the minimum of distraction. Hathaway's character wrestles with her work ethic, her sanity, her common decency and the desire to 'get on' and at its most serious level 'The Devil..' is a study on how psychological and emotional manipulation can be so skilfully brought to bear to make someone surrender their free will : Andrea initially believes her bid to conform and impress Miranda, in some way, a challenge to her boss, likely to 'prove' herself, whereas it is very much just part of the process of moral capitulation that begins 'when you put on that first pair of Jimmy Choos'.