Factory Girl

The year is 1965. Edie Sedgwick is living every young girl’s dream. She is an heiress studying art in Cambridge, Massachusetts before she moves to New York City. Shortly after moving to the city, she is introduced to pop art painter and film-maker, Andy Warhol. This is where the story begins.

Factory Girl is a 2006 American biographical film focused on Edie Sedgewick’s rapid rise and fall as a 1960s underground film star and socialite. Directed by George Hickenlooper, the film premiered in Los Angeles in 2006. Though it was received by largely negative review from critics, the same critics praised Sienna Miller’s performance as Edie Sedgwick. Other notable casts include Guy Pearce as Andy Warhol, Hayden Christensen as Billy Quinn, and Jimmy Fallon as Chuck Wein.

The story continues when Andy Warhol asks Edie to perform in one of his underground movies. She gracefully accepts and is soon spending a lot of her time at the Factory, Andy’s Warhol’s studio and also the hangout of a group of eccentrics. Through Warhol’s art, she quickly becomes well known internationally as a fashion model and, what Warhol constantly says, “superstar.”

 

A series of events occur, but ultimately Sedgwick’s Cambridge friend Syd introduces her to poet and singer Billy Quinn, a character based on Bob Dylan. The moment that the two makes eye connection, the movie goes into slow motion with calm rhythmic background music. You can already feel the vitality of the moment and the romantic spark between the two characters. Andy finds out and becomes jealous, forcing Edie to try to keep her love affair with Billy a secret. It fails. Edie Sedgwick still cares for both and them and as an attempt to reconcile them, she arranges a meeting for Billy to be filmed by Andy at the factory. It becomes extremely awkward very quickly and Billy consciously shows his contempt and lack of respect for the artists in the room. After many moments of awkward silences, Billy walks out of the room and Edie follows him trying once more to make peace. Frustrated, Billy calls Andy a “bloodsucker” who will “kill” her. He reminds her that Andy is only using her as a prop and that she is easily disposable.

Some time flies and Edie’s addiction begins to take its toll. Her relationship with Andy and Billy deteriorates as a result. One night while in a drug-induced stupor, she falls asleep while smoking a cigarette and nearly dies in the ensuing fire. Seeking to find a job, Edie reaches out to publishing companies to hire her. Ultimately she cannot. Vogue refuses to hire her, explaining that Edie is considered “vulgar.” Furious and completely distraught, she interrupts a dinner meeting between Andy and his friends, demanding to be paid and accusing him of ruining her. Andy shows no sympathy towards Edie, even disclosing a newspaper they had been reading with the headline notifying of Billy’s new marriage. This only angers Edie even further.

The movie skips to when Syd sees Edie again, after she has become a prostitute. During a cab ride, he shows Edie a photo of herself when they were arts students back in Cambridge. He tells her that despite everything that has been going wrong, she can still be an artist. Interrupting Syd halfway and not wanting to hear his encouragement, she leaves the cab frantically and runs down the street.

The scene changes to an Edie in a hospital, years in the future. She is being interviewed and tells the interviewer that she is overcoming her addiction and is glad to be home in Santa Barbara. As the movie comes to a close, the captions explain that in the last few years, she continued struggling with controlling drug related problems. She married a patient but ended in less than four months when she died of an overdose.

After the film was released, it was met with a lot of controversy. One involved Lou Reed, an artist of the Velvet Underground and one of the people part of the Factory who knew Sedgwick. He hated the film, telling the New York Daily News, “I read that script. It’s one of the most disgusting, foul things I’ve seen – by any illiterate retard – in a long time. There’s no limit to how low some people will go to write something to make money. They’re all a bunch of whores.” Further controversy surfaced when Bob Dylan, who Billy is based off of, threatened to sue, saying through his lawyers that the script insinuated his responsibility in Sedgwick’s drug abuse and death. Though no lawsuit has been filed, it questions the legitimacy of the story the film tries to portray.

The film alludes to many of the course themes we’ve been discussing throughout class. One that is definitely prominent in the film is the how New York possesses the ability to make individuals soar so high and so rapidly and then, in the next second, crash into a bottomless pit. The film explores this truly unique characteristic of New York through Edie’s fluctuation as an internationally known fashion model and film star and then quickly a homeless drug addict and prostitute. It shows the tremendous wealth and fame New York allows individuals to have one second but also the complete opposite dark and tragic life the next second. Edie, in a way, represents every artist who have come through New York. Whether they started off wealthy or a starving artist, they’ve experienced the roller-coaster ride of what it means to be an artist in New York. Even more so, the film displays how the fame and wealth that comes with being successful in New York can actually tear a person down. Though Edie never accumulated wealth by herself, she is still considered rather wealthy because of her inheritance. This wealth takes her on a path that is much different than paths taken by fellow New Yorkers. She has never had to work hard to attain what she wanted, unlike immigrants who travel to New York to find job and work their way up.  Because her perspective comes from a different and advantageous background along with hanging out with artists who sought to drugs as recreation, Edie falls into become one as well.

The movie’s depiction of Andy Warhol and his success in New York is also a representation of New York as a whole. In the movie, Andy Warhol is portrayed as this awkwardly spoken person with an uncanny voice. He is different than what most expect from someone who is successful. Usually the common prototype of a successful person has the characteristic of being an eloquent communicator, which Warhol clearly is not, at least in the film. I think this speaks a lot about New York and the different paths of success New York allows for its inhabitants. Though Andy is can be characterized as someone uncomfortable in his own skin, his artistic genius is ultimately what brings his success. It shows that as long as you have the talent of influencing and inspiring people, New York will give you the platform to do so.

Bibliography

 

“Edie Seggwick.” Biography. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2016.

“Factory Girl (2006)” Movie Reviews. N.p., n.d. Web. . 10 Nov. 2016.

Ruhlmann, William. “Artist Biography” The Art Story. All Music, n.d. Web. . 10 Nov. 2016.

James, Clive “Factory Girl” Rotten Tomatoes . N.p., n.d. Web. . 10 Nov. 2016.