Madonna is in Toronto, promoting W.E. once again. She’s probably hoping it gets a better reception in Canada than it did in Venice. The photos of Madge in a red blouse/sweater are from yesterday afternoon’s photo call and press conference. If you ignore the crazy and the jacked aspects of her face, this is a really great look for Madonna. It’s almost… classy. Dignified. Serious. Lovely. Great red, great black pencil skirt, good belt and good hair. It’s just the crazy face that messes everything up.

As for the presser – alas, my new boyfriend James D’Arcy was not there, it seems. Madge just brought her two girls out, Abbie Cornish and Andrea Riseborough. Madge also said that critics really need to separate Madonna the Icon from Madonna the director:

Madonna on Monday said she said she doesn’t mind any criticism of her filmmaking abilities, so long as it is directed at her movie and not at herself. The pop star told reporters at the Toronto International Film Festival, where she is promoting her second film “W.E.”, she had to earn her reputation as a musician and she expected to do the same as a film director.

“I had the same kind of pressure when I began my music career,” Madonna told reporters. “I was nervous, and I didn’t know what to expect, and people didn’t know what to expect.”

The film, which premiered at the Venice film festival and is screening at Toronto, has been characterized by critics as visually stunning, but lacking in focus and burdened by weak performances.

“I can tell when people are reviewing my film and when they’re reviewing me personally,” Madonna said when asked whether she cared about what critics thought. “So when they stick to the film, then I do care.”

“W.E.” stars Abbie Cornish as a young New Yorker in the 1990s who becomes infatuated with the 1930s marriage of King Edward VIII and American divorcee Wallis Simpson, played by Andrea Riseborough. It follows Madonna’s first feature, 2008’s “Filth and Wisdom,” which performed poorly at the box office.

Britain’s The Guardian newspaper was the harshest among the critics, giving the film just one star out five, while the Daily Telegraph gave a more positive three star review.

The budget of W.E. is estimated to be around $15 million, and it hits movie theaters in the United States in December, prompting one journalist to ask Madonna about her Oscar hopes for the film.

“My legs and my fingers are crossed,” she quipped.

[From Reuters]

It’s kind of funny, but I just now realized that the criticism of W.E. is very similar to the criticism that many people have of Madonna: that there is no THERE there. No substance, no message, no depth, but it’s all very stylish and interesting to watch. Not challenging. Cold. Heavy on the iconography, light on the intelligence, wit and grace. See, you can say the same things about the movie and Madonna. Fascinating.

By the way, Madonna is still the Queen of the Bitches: The Globe & Mail reports that Madge required TIFF volunteers to “turn their faces to a wall so that they would not look at the pop-star-turned-movie-director as she made her way to her press conference about the film. One volunteer told the Globe they all dutifully stood with their backs to her as she passed.” For last night’s premiere, Madge wore Tom Ford. I like the dress, I just wish Madonna hadn’t worn it with black fishnet stockings and those shoes. But her face looks so much better in this light, doesn’t it?

Photos courtesy of WENN.