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Anna Wintour, Andre Leon Talley, Patrick Demarchelier, Oscar De La Renta, Vera Wang ...( see more  see more... ) , Jean-Paul Gaultier

Anna Wintour, the legendary editor-in-chief of "Vogue" magazine for twenty years, is the most powerful and polarizing figure in fashion. Hidden behind her trademark bob and sunglasses, she has never a...( read more  read more... )llowed anyone to scrutinize the inner workings of her magazine. Until now. With unprecedented access, filmmaker R.J. Cutler’s new film THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE does for fashion what he did for politics in The War Room, taking the viewer inside a world they only think they know. Every August a record-breaking number of people can’t wait to get their hands on the September issue of "Vogue." The 2007 issue was and remains the biggest ever, weighing over four pounds, selling thirteen million copies, and impacting the $300-billion global fashion industry more than any other single publication. An intimate, funny and surprising look at Anna Wintour and her team of larger-than-life editors as they create this must-have Bible of fashion, Cutler explores the untouchable glamour of Wintour’s Vogue to reveal the extraordinarily passionate people at its heart. He takes us behind the scenes at Fashion Week, to Europe, on shoots and reshoots, and into closed-door staff meetings, bearing witness to an arduous, entertaining, and sometimes emotionally demanding process. At the eye of this annual fashion hurricane is the two-decade relationship between Wintour and Grace Coddington, incomparable Creative Director and fashion genius. They are perfectly matched for the age-old conflict between creator and curator. Through them, we see close-up the delicate creative chemistry it takes to remain at the top of the ever-changing fashion field.

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99 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 30 min.

Directed by: R.J. Cutler

Release Date: September 11, 2009

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DVD Release Date: February 23, 2010

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Flixster Reviews (566)

  • mrpopcorn
    January 20, 2010
    mrpopcorn
    "Fashion is a religion. This is the bible."

    A documentary chronicling Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour's preparations for the 2007 fall-fashion issue.

    REVIEW

    How can one woman hold so much po...( read more)wer in a multi-billion dollar industry? The September Issue shows all the mind-blowing meticulous and uncompromising work that went behind the biggest issue of American Vogue, the September 2007 840-page phone book-thick fall fashion bible. If you thought Meryl Streep in Devil Wears Prada was, well, a devil, then the real-life pope of international fashion whose word on all things sartorial is doctrine and canon will leave you speechless as she makes the most famous and esteemed designers nervous like little girls who doubt that they know even a single thing about clothes, puts into trash $ 50,000 worth of fashion editorial work, and dictates to major retailers what the rest of us are going to wear.

    However, the more profound aspects of this documentary are the less notorious driving or hindering forces of multi-million-copy-selling Vogue. Anna Wintour, aka "nuclear Wintour," has chinks in her armor. After all, every deity is a human first, and Anna is a mother to a daughter who thinks that the fashion industry is "amusing," a sentiment shared by Anna's three other siblings. To the commander-in-chief of couture and prêt-a-porter, this seems to send an unwelcoming weakness. Juxtaposed with Anna is creative director Grace Coddington, the apparent warmness to Anna's iciness. Pushing each other has been the norm for their 20 years of working close together. The dynamic between the two is exciting, frustrating, and a necessary endeavor to produce the pages of fashion's most revered reference.

    Fashion people will eat up this film. However, normal people/fashion outsiders will not regret seeing this insightful piece about how it is to be supremely powerful, what it takes to be at the pinnacle, and the costs of this might and glory.
  • her69eyes
    October 31, 2009
    her69eyes
    Anna Wintour, overseer of the highly-decorated fashion magazine, Vogue, is often announced as the single most influential person in the world of fashion. To those oblivious to fashion, however, they may recognize her more by Meryl Streep's interpretation in "The Devil Wears Prada...( read more)".

    Having only seen the aforementioned film and never seeing Wintour for myself, I expected a cold, ruthless, and demanding women. Surprisingly, however, RJ Cutler, director of "The September Issue", doesn't in any way demonize Wintour. In fact, she's quite likable - the scenes with her daughter, for instance, are unusually warm for someone dubbed the ice queen. How much of it is an act for the cameras is hard to say, but Wintour, as seen in the documentary, is charming. Demanding, sure, and not inviting to conflicting opinions, but yet the perfect fit for her position.

    The documentary concerns a single issue of Vogue, the September 2007 issue, with Sienna Miller gracing the cover. Announced as the biggest issue of Vogue ever published, Wintour is thoroughly hands-on in the creative development of every page. She, like many successful figures in business, knows precisely what she wants and won't settle for anything else.

    Despite Wintour's reputation and presence, however, "The September Issue" achieves it's high points when dealing with Grace Coddington, the creative director of Vogue. A former model who lost her career after a 1960 auto-accident, Coddington is an unusual fit for this vain world - Streep's villainess wouldn't give Coddington, with her fiery frizz of hair wildly sprouting in every direction, a second look. Coddington and Wintour are both extraordinarily big personalities, and only by having each other as foil can they actually accomplish anything. Their relationship is full of an enormous admiration, albeit begrudgingly so.

    "The September Issue" is pleasant company - we come to love these people and, even having no interest in the fashion world, I found myself very compelled by this culture. It's fault, however, is that the stakes never feel big enough for such a bold world. Although Wintour and Coddington are more than suitable subjects for a film, the actual production of the publication becomes a bit of an afterthought. The interest in the film is not whether or not this magazine is done to Wintour's standards, but how Wintour and Coddington will scuffle along the way.
  • rebvodka042099
    September 25, 2009
    rebvodka042099
    Not many documentaries manage to be this highly entertaining. I absolutely adored every minute of it, and by the end I was left with wanting more.

    Definitely offers a thorough insight into the behind-the-scenes making-of Vogue Magazine's most important issue: the September one....( read more) Frenzied running-around, fights, arguments, difficult decisions, photo shoots, conflicts, demand for fresh ideas, and above all else - high fashion, is what pretty much sums up this delightful and engaging documentary. The attempt to humanize Anna Wintour is almost successful as she seems to practically own this documentary, but at the end, your heart has completely gone to Grece Coddington.

    I would suggest it to every fashion admirer like myself...but then again...even if you are not interested in fashion, this documentary might have you reconsider.
  • u2acro
    October 14, 2009
    u2acro
    Ah, it's great to see the claws of Anna Wintour. She can't reign in the drama and haughtiness, even when she's not expressly directing it at anyone. A cold smirk, a blank stare, a slight eyeroll... these are the things that apparently make fashionistas both swoon over her and fea...( read more)r her.

    "The September Issue" is great viewing -- it's like Bravo on the big screen. You get the viewpoints of Wintour and her underlings as they put together the famed and collossal September issue of "Vogue" magazine and do other fashiony things. As an editor (uh, NOT at "Vogue"), I loved watching their process and comparing it to my own work.

    The best thing about the whole damn movie, though, is creative director Grace Coddington. She whips her long red hair around like nobody's business AND she stands up to and sasses Wintour when she needs it. No one else quite gives Wintour the smackdown when it's warranted, and believe me, it was warranted in many of the situations.
  • shutterbug99
    November 25, 2009
    shutterbug99
    The Devil Wears....Fur.....

    Anna Wintour's fur obsession was the only downside to this documentary which takes us into the privileged world of fashion and provides a fascinating insight into the behind the scenes workings of Vogue magazine's famous 'September Issue'. The docum...( read more)entary has an interesting cast of characters, some of whom are very self-involved. This makes for some hilarious soundbites - 'September is the January in fashion' , for example, and 'the jacket is the new coat'. Amazing!

    I am a big fan of fashion, so I found all of this very entertaining. The glamour and excess of the fashion shoots - Raquel Zimmerman shot by David Sims at Versailles is wonderfully glamorous - and of course, this is a unparalleled glimpse into the world of Wintour, who is capable of more than a few soundbites of her own. In one scene she states of Jennifer Garner that she 'needs to be fixed. She looks pregnant'.

    As fascinating as Wintour is, for me, Creative Director Grace Coddington was the star of the show, and a refreshing contrast to the aloof Wintour. Coddington is the only person at Vogue, it seems, ready to defy Wintour, and this definitely makes for interesting watching. A must see for Fashion fans!
  • 339z
    February 6, 2010
    339z
    wow umn just seen this movie 4 the 1st time n think that this is a good movie 2 watch......its got a good cast of actors/actressess thorughout this movie.....i think that jean-paul gaultier, vera wang, oscar de la renta, anna wintour, andre leon talley, patrick demarchelier play ...( read more)good roles/parts throughout this movie.....i think that the director of this comedy/drama/documentary movie had done a good job of directing this movie because you never know what 2 expect throughout this movie....i think that this is an interesting look at the editor of vogue magazine..
  • FraudForBray
    February 3, 2010
    FraudForBray
    no matter what the topic you'll enjoy a film as long as its very well done. this documentary certainly proves it. i've always loved anna wintour and her seemingly unnatural and overwhelming devotion to her industry. it's good that we, people from far away, have even the smallest ...( read more)window to her work and life. this fim is sooooo entertaining. certainly for fashion lovers, haters, and neutrals.


    PS the most interesting person here for me is Grace Coddington. I love her work and determination!
  • gumiller
    January 20, 2010
    gumiller
    Filme de jornalista (e fashionistas)
  • matheuscpn
    January 3, 2010
    matheuscpn
    I pretty much fell in love with Vogue's Creative Director Grace Coddington. I wouldn't guess the person behind all those fabulous photos is someone like her. She totally steals Anna Wintour spotlight in the movie. I only thought they could have gone on a wider perspective, cause ...( read more)it mostly focus on Wintour and Grace, and some random people like Mario Testino. I think this would give one hella of a reality show.
  • resist2182
    December 9, 2009
    resist2182
    Rather bland actually. Anna Wintour was not the most interesting person in the documentary, it was her creative director Grace

View All The September Issue Reviews

Critic Reviews

October 23, 2009
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

Grace, the movie implies, is the genius behind what Vogue really sells, which is romantic aspirational fantasies for women. full review

October 1, 2009
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

While it's fun for fashionholics just to watch a movie in which people say "It's a famine of beauty!" and "The jacket is the new coat," the film becomes more substantial as it narrows its focus to two... full review

September 18, 2009
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle

[Cutler] worms his way into subcultures without judgment or probing, preferring to let group dynamics speak for themselves. full review

September 15, 2009
A.O. Scott, At the Movies

RJ Cutler had plenty of access, but it's pretty clear that from start to finish it was Anna Wintour who was in control of this movie. full review

September 11, 2009
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Wintour steers a tight ship. Coddington reminds her that Vogue has a history based on something more than profit. In the end, they're a winning combination. full review

September 11, 2009
Amy Biancolli, San Francisco Chronicle

This crisp and entertaining documentary is like a bullet train through Wintour's fief... full review

September 10, 2009
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

This seems to be a woman who is concerned with one thing above all: The implementation of her opinion. She is not the monster depicted by Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada, but then how could she be? full review

August 28, 2009
Kurt Loder, MTV

Can Wintour -- who's reportedly paid $2-million a year and also given an annual personal clothing budget of $200,000 -- keep her job? In the fashion biz, this is what passes for hard times. full review

August 27, 2009
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

R.J. Cutler's vibrant and mischievous documentary The September Issue is only partly a movie about fashion. At its heart, it's really a movie about work, about the ways individuals compete with, grate... full review

August 27, 2009
Kyle Smith, New York Post

If a syllable could kill (and it can, can't it?), the movie would be the Texas Chainsaw Massacre of the stiletto-heeled and dagger-toothed. full review

View more The September Issue reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

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