Madonna Film Divides Critics In Venice

Madonna's new movie has been dubbed "silly, preening and fatally mishandled" by critics - despite getting direction tips from her ex-husbands Guy Ritchie and Sean Penn.

The Material Girl singer's second attempt at directing was slammed by some reviewers, with The Guardian's Xan Brooks saying: "What an extraordinarily silly, preening, fatally mishandled film this is.

"It may even surpass 2008's Filth and Wisdom, Madonna's calamitous first outing as a film-maker. Her direction is so all over the shop that it barely qualifies as direction at all."

But there have been positive reviews. The Daily Telegraph wrote: "Madonna's W.E. is a bold and confident story about an American woman's obsession with the Windsors."

Speaking at the 68th Venice Film Festival, Madonna told critics: "I am and was attracted to very creative people, which is why I married Sean Penn and Guy Ritchie, two very talented directors.

"And they both encouraged me as a director and as a creative person to do what I did. They were both very supportive."

The movie is based on the story of King Edward VIII's love affair with American socialite and divorcee Wallis Simpson.

Madonna said she identified with the character blamed for the abdication crisis in 1936.

"I think it's very common when people become celebrities or public figures or icons that we are often reduced to a sound bite," she said.

"You're given a few attributes then you're not allowed to have anything more than that."

The latest offering deals with the same subject as Oscar winner The King's Speech, but Madonna told a packed press conference that her film was very different.

She said: "I saw that it was from a completely different point of view and I view the success of that film as sort of laying the groundwork for my movie.

"There is a little bit of history and a little bit of knowledge and we are not starting with a blank slate."