W.E.

What it's about:

W.E. tells the story of two fragile but determined women - Wally Winthrop and Wallis Simpson - separated by more than six decades.

In 1998, lonely New Yorker Wally Winthrop (Abbie Cornish) is obsessed with what she perceives as the ultimate love story: King Edward's VIII's abdication of the British throne for the woman he loved, American divorcée Wallis Simpson.

But Wally's research, including several visits to the Sotheby's auction of the Windsor Estate, reveals that the couple's life together was not as perfect as she thought. Weaving back and forth in time, W.E. intertwines Wally's journey of discovery in New York with the story of Wallis (Andrea Riseborough) and Edward (James D'Arcy), from the glamorous early days of their romance to the slow unravelling of their lives in the decades that followed. 

What the critics thought:

"W.E. is an elegant, ambitious and relentlessly monotonous film."
- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

"Madonna as a director has no discernible idea of how to locate a tone, or a provocative blend of tones. Her camera makes circles around its subjects every chance it gets in ways that evoke - nothing."
- Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

"I found the movie fascinating. Except for the boring bits."
- Kyle Smith, New York Post