Madge's director debut shocks critics

The film was screened at the 58th Berlinale International Film Festival - one of the most prestigious in the world - in Berlin yesterday.

So, was it as bad as her turn in hubby's film Swept Away, or has Madonna found a home in the critics' hearts for her directorial talent rather than her acting skills?

Well, if the Guardian's Peter Bradshaw is to be believed, that scenario would be unlikely. Venting spleen at the horror of it all, Bradshaw writes: "Well, it had to happen. Madonna has been a terrible actor in many, many films and now - fiercely aspirational as ever - she has graduated to being a terrible director."

Giving it one star out of five, he continues: "She has made a movie so incredibly bad that Berlin festivalgoers were staggering around yesterday in a state of clinical shock, deathly pale and mewing like maltreated kittens."

Although Eugene Hutz, who plays a Ukrainian punk-poet "does occasionally raise a smile, but everything else is a mess."

But although he isn't the only one sharpening the knives, most critics tempered their astonishment with a little credit for the undertaking.

"Don't give up the day job," writes Sheila Johnston in the Telegraph. Yet she gives Madonna her dues: "Madonna describes Filth and Wisdom as "essentially my way of putting myself through film school", and it is an extremely canny assessment. The movie is - disappointingly, perhaps - not an outright embarrassment; there are even a couple of intentional laughs in it. It's not an entirely unpromising first effort."

And Ben Hoyle and David Crossland, writing for the Times, said: "If anything it surprised critics by not being much, much worse."

They point out the boon the presence of a star like Madonna has provided for the festival: "Regardless of how the film is received, Madonna's very presence has provided the festival with a muchneeded highlight. She arrived at Tempelhof airport by private jet with an entourage of aides."

In the Independent, Kaleem Aftab says: "Madonna's first attempt at directing a film is a huge surprise in that it is a light-hearted, feel-good comedy in the style of Working Title. Unfortunately, the Working Title film it most resembles is Love Actually."

He goes on to wonder "if Madonna spends her evenings at home in England studying EastEnders" and concludes: "On this evidence Madonna has a long way to go as a film-maker. To her credit, she makes the most out of a poor script - and at least it stops her acting herself."

The Mirror avoided the subject of the film altogether and focus on her hair instead: "Madonna didn't look her usual glamorous self when she was spotted stepping out of a trendy restaurant recently with little make-up and messy hair showing distinct strands of grey. But she was a golden girl again yesterday - just in time for a photoshoot at Berlin's annual film festival."

Surely that will be a comfort today as she sifts through the reviews.

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