名利裳·名利場

2006年上映的電影《時尚女魔頭》展現的是一場Logo的歡宴，時尚的視覺大餐:嘴涂Chanel唇膏，手挽Hermès包包，腳踩Manolo Blahnik高跟鞋的女郎流連于紐約街頭，形成一道道奪目的風景線。但是，這部電影另外一個心照不宣的“貢獻”是把一位重量級的時尚幕后推手——安娜·溫圖爾，美國版《Vogue》的主編，推到了幕前。看客第一次見識到時尚界的“權力”與 “權威”所在:她的一笑一顰幾乎可左右一個設計師的未來;她朱唇輕啟，一個“不”字就讓下屬戰戰兢兢，不知所措。

如果說《時尚女魔頭》的結尾處梅麗爾·斯特里普的嘴角漾起的一抹微笑讓你感到有一絲溫情的話，那么紀錄片《九月刊》展現的則是殘酷的職場百態:金錢、權力、名利、心計……

是的，“時尚”不過是華麗的包裝。

歡迎來到現實世界。

——Mac

Tohe September Issue， a documentary about the creation of a single， very 1)fat issue of American Vogue in a 2)far-off 3)gilded age (i.e. 2007)， has little to say about fashion， the real 4)ins and outs of publishing or the inner workings and demons of the magazine’s notoriously demanding 5)meanie-in-chief， Anna Wintour. Rather， this entertaining movie is about the maintenance of a brand that Ms. Wintour has brilliantly cultivated since she assumed her place at the top of the editorial 6)masthead in 1988 and which the documentary’s director， R. J. Cutler， has helped polish with a take so flattering he might as well work there.

To judge from the 7)flurries of behind-the-scenes evidence， however， if Mr. Cutler did work for the 8)exacting Ms. Wintour he would still be doing reshoots. Shot on digital with an eye for 9)sumptuous color by Bob Richman and briskly edited by Azin Samari， the 88-minute movie opens with Ms. Wintour explaining that “there is something about fashion that can make people very nervous.” Certainly she unnerves her staff， as you soon see from all the 10)huddled bodies and 11)popping eyes. Even the more 12)self-possessed， like Candy Pratts Price， seem 13)in the grip of awe. Is Ms. Wintour the “high priestess” of the magazine， an off-camera voice asks. “I would say pope，” Ms. Price says with a 14)queasy smile.

Many will grasp this distinction， having already watched 15)supplicants 16)kiss the ring in the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada， with Meryl Streep as a fictionalized and Americanized version of Ms. Wintour. Etched in 17)acid and often 18)hilarious， the performance， while not wholly modeled on Ms. Wintour， helped humanize her public profile， lessening the 19)sting of the original book， written by Lauren Weisberger. The documentary continues this humanization largely by showing Ms. Wintour very hard at work， rather lonely and sensitive about her British family’s low opinion of fashion. She’s a poor little rich girl 20)swaddled in fur and iced to the bone.

She’s also pretty funny， perhaps at times accidentally so. Much of the movie’s pleasure comes from the utter ease with which Ms. Wintour plays the 21)Red Queen of fashion and orders off with their heads. In the case of the British actress 22)Sienna Miller， the cover girl for the September 2007 issue， which gives the movie its structure and hook， the head 23)in question receives the 21st-century version of a severing: it’s Photoshopped to unreal perfection. However lovely， Ms. Miller proves a problematic Vogue ideal for the editors， many of whose own faces are somewhat surprisingly 24)scored with wrinkles. It’s a mark of how pitiless Ms. Wintour can 25)come across that you end up feeling a bit sorry for Ms. Miller.

In truth Ms. Wintour was just doing her job. Yes， there’s cruelty here， but of the most 26)attenuated kind: she says no， employees tremble. The strongest， like the flame-haired Grace Coddington， the magazine’s longtime creative director and the documentary’s hugely 27)diverting 28)stealth star， seem to have figured out how to survive with their dignity intact. Most of the truly ugly stuff in fashion—the models starving themselves and the animals inhumanely slaughtered for their fur—remains unnoted in The September Issue， much as it often does in Vogue. And while the movie 29)shuns any 30)overt discussion of money， it includes an instructive scene of Ms. Wintour playing the 31)coquette with one of the magazine’s important advertisers.

Of course it really is all about money. Despite 32)being crammed with glossy images of beautiful， weird， unattractive， ridiculous and33)prohibitively expensive clothes and accessories， Vogue isn’t about fashion: it’s about 34)stoking the desire for those clothes and accessories. It’s about the creation of lust and the transformation of wants into needs. Almost everything in this temple of consumption， including its lavish layouts and the celebrities who now most often adorn its covers， 35)hinges on stuff for sale. Some of that stuff comes with a price tag， but some of it is more 36)ephemeral because Vogue is also in the aspiration business. Mr. Cutler doesn’t notice or doesn’t care about any of that， which makes his movie as 37)facile as it is fun.

Given this， it’s no surprise that Ms. Wintour is doing her part to 38)flog the documentary: she gave a party in its honor and recently appeared on 39)David Letterman’s show， with and without her signature sunglasses， her 40)glazed stare and tight smile firmly in place. The movie affords you many opportunities to marvel at the 41)parsimony of that smile and wonder if she’s as bored as she looks， even while waiting for an 42)agitated Stefano Pilati， the creative director at 43)Yves Saint Laurent， to show his newest collection.

“That’s pretty，” she says， in a voice so 44)drained of affect it’s a wonder he doesn’t commit 45)seppuku with his scissors. You feel bad for Mr. Pilati， but it’s Ms. Wintour’s 46)hauteur that makes you laugh and keeps you willingly at her side.

紀錄片《九月刊》講述的是在那“久遠的”鍍金年代(即2007年)，美國時尚雜志《Vogue》一期厚重的單本雜志是如何制作完成的。而關于時尚、出版界的真實詳情或是內部的運作方式以及安娜·溫圖爾——以嚴苛聞名的“刻薄鬼”主編，該片則提及得少之又少。這部有趣的影片更多地講述了溫圖爾女士自1988年成為主編以來經營品牌的輝煌歷史，該紀錄片導演R·J·卡特勒用帶著“奉承”味道的鏡頭使影片錦上添花，好像他本人也是安娜·溫圖爾手下一員似的。

但從幕后花絮顯示的忙亂狀況來看，要是卡特勒先生真的為這位事事要求完美的溫圖爾女士工作的話，恐怕本片還在重拍中。這部長達88分鐘的影片由鮑勃·理查曼執鏡，色彩華麗;由阿辛·薩馬理剪輯，靈動跳脫。