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The affair between King Edward VIII and American divorcée Wallis Simpson, and a contemporary romance between a married woman and a Russian security guard. The affair between King Edward VIII and American divorcée Wallis Simpson, and a contemporary romance between a married woman and a Russian security guard. The affair between King Edward VIII and American divorcée Wallis Simpson, and a contemporary romance between a married woman and a Russian security guard.

• Alek Keshishian
• Abbie Cornish
• James D'Arcy
• Andrea Riseborough
• 95 User reviews
• 119 Critic reviews
• 37 Metascore
• 4 wins & 6 nominations total

Top cast 69

• Wally Winthrop

• Wallis Simpson

• William Winthrop

• King George V

• Mohamed Al-Fayed

• Stanley Baldwin

• Lord Brownlow

• Lady Thelma

• Major Fruity Metcalfe

• Connie Thaw
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Fashion house Christian Dior recreated three dresses for this film that it had previously made for the real Wallis Simpson.
• Goofs In the newsreel scene from 1936 showing the funeral procession of Edward's father the King, the voiceover announcer says that "King George the Third has died and the nation mourns". It should of course have been King George the Fifth.

Wallis Simpson : Darling, they can't hurt you if you don't let them.

• Connections Featured in Breakfast: Episode dated 3 September 2011 (2011)
• Soundtracks Karin Written by Christoph Clöser , Morten Gass Performed by Bohren & Der Club of Gore Published by Manuskript © (P) Bohren & Der Club of Gore released under exclusive license by [Pias] Recordings 2008

User reviews 95

A semi-noble failure.

• jimmy_mack1973
• Jan 19, 2012
• How long is W.E.? Powered by Alexa
• January 20, 2012 (United Kingdom)
• United Kingdom
• United States
• Official site
• Official site (Japan)
• Chuyện Tình Thế Kỷ
• Debenham House, Addison Road, Holland Park, London, England, UK
• Semtex Films
• Tempesta Films
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $15,000,000 (estimated)
• Feb 5, 2012
• Runtime 1 hour 59 minutes
• Black and White
• Dolby Digital

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W.E. Reviews

W.E. offers astounding proof that a movie can be larded with talent, money and craft, yet fail miserably.

Full Review | Jul 29, 2019

The film is perhaps an ironic exposé of how personal Madonna's interest is in the very sort of privileged, monied and transnational lives of the two lead women.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 24, 2019

Madonna needs to accept... that her talents lie not in the movie business.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Jan 4, 2019

A watered-down, at times emotionally manipulative, and often morally one-dimensional biopic.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Dec 13, 2018

With the right amount of directorial mishandling, you can utterly waste the talent of two actresses who are otherwise first-class.

Full Review | Aug 31, 2018

Perhaps the movie should've been title W.E. C. As in, Who Even Cares....

Full Review | Aug 30, 2017

Madonna's swirl of luxury and grainy jump-cuts merely drift, and then land somewhat in emptiness.

Full Review | May 9, 2016

A marvelous 10-car pileup of ostentatious art direction and dated fashion shows in search of reason for being.

Full Review | May 3, 2015

Does not end with any cohesive point, but as a study in style and technique it shows a woman enamored with the sensation of classic cinematic values.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 22, 2015

Having gone to painstaking lengths to ensure this film assigns [Madonna] oh-so-serious directorial cred that she has sadly forsaken the very energy that makes her a megastar to this very day.

Full Review | Sep 8, 2013

It may not be laughably awful - like her and Ritchie's Swept Away - it's something far worse...boring.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Mar 14, 2013

W.E. is staggeringly misjudged, infuriatingly revisionist, blindingly stupid and stomach evacuatingly terrible.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/10 | Sep 15, 2012

Kudos to Madonna for ultimately producing a celluloid smorgasbord that contains the caloric content of a couple of Snackwell's cookies.

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | Sep 4, 2012

Full Review | Original Score: D | Aug 26, 2012

Impossible to recommend to anyone not already fascinated with the British royal family, or at least jonesing for a companion piece to The King's Speech.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/10 | Aug 22, 2012

Truth be told, the film isn't THAT bad, and if it had been directed by an unknown rather than a controversial media icon, it might have been more charitably dismissed as an ambitious failure.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 8, 2012

not a completely horrible film ...there's one sequence - an anachronistic and jarring one in which Wallis Simpson ... dances with a Masai tribesman to the Sex Pistols' "Pretty Vacant" - that I think indicates that Madge has real potential as a director.

Full Review | Original Score: 81/100 | Apr 29, 2012

An ambitiously conceived and beautifully designed and costumed but disjointed work; each scene is impressive on its own, but the movie -- like its heroines? -- lacks a coherent identity.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 18, 2012

Madonna doesn't appear in W.E. but her artistic sensibilities are on display at every turn.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 15, 2012

Tonally and emotionally all over the map, Madonna wants to celebrate Wallis' and Edward's martini-shaking high living while also wallowing in her hidden pain.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 30, 2012