From the sheer length of time she's been in fashion I believe she processes a catalog of thoughts and images and what the final outcome might be very quickly. Over the years she's distilled her method of pulling together a picture from all of the available elements at hand. And since she's on a publishing deadline she doesn't have time to really fawn over people or indulge them when she makes comments or critiques.
Also fashion-speak is very short-hand and seeks to amuse itself with its' witticisms so the manner of people that goes with can seem cutting or curt. And all that works to create an extraordinary and very cinematic "evil witch." Meryl Streep was brilliant not just for her role in
The Devil Wears Prada
but for her foresight in recognizing a role with teeth.

I wish I could say I respected her, but this movie did little for my impression for her. I have respect for what she does and I understand that part of the job, as Grace even says herself, is being brutal and not always being likable. I understand that much and find Anna Wintour to be truly fascinating, a larger than life character.
My main issue is, as others have pointed out, her awareness of the cameras is distracting. I don't believe for a second we're seeing the real her. She's doing damage control and after such a scintillating portrayal of her likeness in The Devil Wears Prada, it's not hard to see why. The scene that most others have mentioned where her siblings dismissed her career as "amusing" is definitely hard to watch. I wanted to feel for her, but I felt like she was going to hurt herself under the weight of that self pity and the whole thing seemed contrived.
Furthermore, her rudeness to the cameraman was appalling. Considering she wants to be painted as a sympathetic figure, telling the cameraman that he needs to hit the gym is unnecessarily rude. It also wreaks of an insecurity that is most unbecoming on a woman who tears others down to build herself up.
It's true I was expecting a more exaggerated portrayal of Wintour, but I was impressed that the film allowed viewers to make up their own minds. Maybe not Miranda Priestly, but as calculating and insecure as Streep's portrayal.

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I felt like Anna came off as strong and focused, yet vulnerable and emotional. Grace didn't leave the best impression but she did have her redeemable qualities and it was a stressful issue after all. Anna is so inspiring and it's a shame that her daughter obviously doesn't understand the importance of her mother's career.
Which would be worse, to live as a monster or to die as a good man?

Sorry but most pastor's wives are waaaaay more demanding, intolerant, bitchy, impatient and power hungry than the woman at the head of VOGUE.
I was expecting worse. I have known other female bosses and CEOs and company heads who were much much much worse.
Everybody gets annoyed when kept waiting. Especially smaller companies. I have contracted at companies you never heard of with male or female heads who about started screaming when something did not go exactly as they wanted it.
I wanted to say to Grace that its not your magazine and if you feel so disappointed then leave and start your own mag. I found (to my surprise) that I was not disagreeing with the decisions the head woman was making.
Everytime I saw Grace's hair, not her face (she can't help that she was in an accident) I wanted to pour conditioner on it and cut it because it looked like it was so dry it could spontaneously ignite.
And I didn't care for her attitude either. She just seemed petty and instantly defiant, jealous even.

She's a narcissist exactly like the one in the book. In fact, I'm surprised a woman so smart wasn't able to do more to alter the perception based on the book since that was the point, wasn't it?
Besides Grace, all the women were in seriously high heels.
She couldn't be kept waiting. Got seriously annoyed when things didn't move along.
Panic ensued and everyone working in the place had to do the impossible and produce pictures from Rome that weren't being released.
She walks out her front door and leaves it wide open. Who does that???? Only someone who feels it is too mundane to worry about closing doors.
She is very artificial with the CEO of Neiman Marcus. Painfully artificial. Because he is one of the people in "The Important People" group.
We saw her assistants wrapping her stuff when she was going to travel.
Everything is brought to her office.
She walks into the elevator first and everyone follows in proper order.
That cold, empty stare of hers. It's haunting.
I could go on and on. Obviously, TDWP is not fiction in the slightest. Probably not much of an exaggeration either.
However, I don't begrudge her the 'tude. Important men in business tend to be narcissists as well. There is no big stink over them. Plus, she is kind of fascinating in her aloofness.

I AM THE B!TCH WITH THE
HOT
GUITAR

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hmm i dunno, i get she has to be tough but I couldn't work knowing my staff were quaking in their Jimmy Choo's whenever i was nearby. Thats no way to work. You can be respected AND be pleasant and warm. Doesn't mean she has to compromise on the quality of the magazine. Im sure it would be nicer for her too if she could relax a little.
I AM THE B!TCH WITH THE
HOT
GUITAR

I totally agree everywhere you see, from the trailers to the interviews, make it seem that Anna is really just a power hungry bitch with an ego.
BUT, what the documentary showed was a passionate woman who was trying to make the September Issue the best in it's history. She was even a little charming to me. And I even felt a little sympathy for her like right before she goes off to fly to Rome or one of those many place she visited in Europe, her daughter just said 'bye.' THAT'S IT! I'm sure she's used to seeing her mother leave but a little more emotion towards the woman that gave birth to you would've been nice. And then she belittles her mothers profession when she's right in the next room was a bit mean; such a disconnect. Or when Anna was talking about her brothers and sister being amused by what she does she looked pained by what she didn't say.
She asked for opinions, if things didn't work she cut them; she tried to get things done. Maybe some feelings were hurt but you can't put every single thing the workers want into the magazine a lot of trimming had to take place. But she did it in a respectful way and despite removing a some of Grace's pictures, still spoke highly of her and labeled her a genius.
She seemed like a captain. Not a tyrant.

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Miranda and Anna could NOT be more alike.
Neither one knows how to smileor on those rare occasions when they do, it's a shark smile.
Both have absurd signature hairstyles.
Both say no to 90% of the suggestions offered them.
Both are passive-agressive. (Esp Wintour in her strained working relationship with Coddington)
Both have a quiet inner rage and justify their bitchiness with workaholism.
Everyone knows that Weisberger (the author of "Devil Wears Prada") worked for Wintour and patterned Miranda after her. What was amazing was that Streep swears she wasn't channeling Wintour at all in her performance. But that low-key angry bitch vibe rings true.

I agree. Vogue is a brand and Anna is the best woman for this position and is the integral part of this brand and is the power-player in this business. I really loved this movie. I would have liked to see more intereaction w/ her daughter. I liked those scenes.

I think that the person who wrote "Devil" worked for la Wintour.
She was on her best (least miserable?) behaviour whilst the cameras were rolling. What a joyless human being. The only time her eyes showed a spark of warmth was when she was with her daughter who didn't seem to show much warmth to her mother.

It's a movie and she knew she would be the "star" of course she didn't act like TOTAL BCH! I tend to believe the Devil Wears prada over this actjmo
you have now officially lost your mind!

I think people like to think that she is exactly like Miranda because, like the author of the book, it's more entertaining for them to have a villainess to boo at than an accurate picture of the real person, someone you could empathise with.
I didn't watch this expecting to find a confirmation of how 'evil' certain people believe she is; I watched it because I read the book, watched the movie, and when I found out it was supposedly based on Weisberger's experiences, I searched on the internet for information about the real story.
Reading about her life I had nothing but respect for her. She set a goal for her life and she's achieved that and more, which is a lot more than the majority of people can say.
As for how she deals with people, coming across as cold, I think it's telling that people automatically jump to the conclusion that she's a 'bitch' or an 'ice queen'. When you're at the top and wield as much influence within your industry as she does, it's completely unrealistic to expect her to become best friends with every person she ever meets.
Also, on the point of her making 'demands' without going into great detail about how her assistants should get the job done: that is the point of being the editor, or the manager of any large enough company, any successful one anyway. She simply wouldn't have the time to do her job and hold people's hands through doing their own. If Lauren Weisberger had so much of a problem with being expected to be competent at her job that she literally compared her boss to the devil, then perhaps she just wasn't cut out for employment.
My one problem with Wintour is that, I did feel for her when she hinted that her family don't respect her job and her accomplishments within the fashion industry because they weren't exactly humanitarian, but she has been adamantly pro-fur, when she is probably the one person in the entire world that has enough influence to fatally cripple the fur trading industry.
"You're not supposed to steal."
"You're not supposed to talk to strangers. Piss off."

It's nice of all of you to base your opinion of Anna Wintour on a documentary based.on her. I worked in the fashion business for about15 years. As much as the character of Miranda was exagerated, please don't forget that Anna Wintour is absolutely aware that a camera is following her all the time and that she has to show a better face than Miranda.
Is Anna pleasant ? no. Is she nice to her "people" ? no. Does she really ask for other people opinion ? No. Does she have any consideration for anyone but herself ? No. Does she think she is smarter than anyone else ? yes. Do people respect her as opposed to fear her? There is a sense of respect for her but fear is definitely a main component of her relations with others.
Actually she is not too far in reality from what Miranda was ! Unfortunately.

I see what you're (the OP) saying, but I don't totally agree. When she told her driver to make a stop at Starbucks, I don't get the feeling for a minute that she got out of the car and stood on line herself with regular folk, waiting for her drink to be made while on the way to work. There is no footage of this. My guess would be that either her driver or one of the film crew people ran out in her service and got the beverage she requested. She probably doesn't even pay for the coffee herself. It's either put on a Vogue expense card or someone from the film crew paid would be my guess. But I don't have a problem with any of that. I just see where she was the basis for the Miranda character is all. In fact, The Devil Wears Prada was written by Anna Wintour's former intern, and has been openly said to be the basis for Streep's Miranda.
TDWP is a screenplay that only focuses on certain aspects of Anna's demeanor as it would pertain to an intern (you don't see any interns, or conversations with interns in the September Issue). Obviously Anna, or Miranda for that matter, have friends and peers that they let their hair down a little bit more with, and treat more respectfully. The same goes for the family/kids. In TDWP, they were young kids, probably the age they would have been when the writer was an intern at Vogue in the 90's. They're grown up now, and we see one of them in the documentary. Anna does seem to care about her daughter's opinions and admits to her children being her weakness. In TDWP, the only time we see Miranda's character portrayed as emotionally vulnerable is again when it comes to family: her husband leaving her. She snaps back into professionalism and buries herself in the work at hand, but you see that that is her achille's heel.
In the documentary, Anna is aware that she is being filmed, and probably used this as an opportunity to rebut TDWP's impression of her. True, she does say "Is there anything else you need me for Grace?" but she says this a little bit to cut the tension, when the meeting has ended. She already started the meeting by saying "We won't discuss the photos anymore" which cuts off Grace's arguments, since we all know that Grace has been unhappy about her photo sequence being cut, and she has been very vocal about it. Anna knows the camera is capturing all of this, and she also knows that she has the final overruling word on the matter, so she shoots that remark to Grace after the meeting ends, and well, it does still feel Miranda-esque.
Also when Anna gives her opinion and says "What do you think?" I never get the impression she's looking for someone to give adverse opinions. If Anna Wintour makes a decision, and she says what do you think, the answer is "I agree." Otherwise she gets quiet. And when she gets quiet, you get the sense that there will be a consequence in some way when the cameras aren't on. Someone like Grace won't lose her job or anything too drastic, and I'm sure Anna does respect her, but a few more of Grace's photos may not make the cut (which is what happened), or she may scrap the piece altogether. Or she may do nothing about it, and make the final decision the way she wants to. But the point is that there is a quiet unspoken power. An "I'm already telling you the answer we're all going to followand oh, what do you think?"
Her daughter's opinions are an entirely different matter. Her opinions count in a big way and instantly bring out the wide eyed Anna who hangs on every word.
I agree that seeing the different sides to her in real life, and not just focusing on a few traits, does make her more understandable and endearing. You're right, she does have to be decisive and determined to get to where she is and stay there. Miranda was too. But Anna smiles more than Miranda and talks about her family and you don't feel quite as alienated from her in some way.

The art instructors I've had in the past, who were like Anna, are the reasons my art is at the level it is today. I, too, was surprised at how much I ended up respecting her.
"Those who can't do teach". She really is a teacher and a damn good one at that. It's no coencidence that many of the designers who've taken her advice end up becoming successful in their field. She's not vague, simply to the point. And in a industry that's win or loose you want to hear what works, not indecisiveness.
People want guidence, but are afraid to hear the truth and that's a sad fact to why our culture is the way it is today.
People like Anna aren't heartless, they just can't abide mediocrity. Especially, when they can see your full potential.
We really need more driven individuals like that in the film industry who are as passionate about the product as they are about turning a buck.
Hollywood today is just sad. It has absolutely know direction because they merely consider the bottom line without any vision or appreciation for those who have it.
I appreciated the fact Anna thought about every element as a whole. People who pretty much complain and never achieve their full potential in life with never get a chance realize this. They'll continue to invy and mock those who understand that it takes work and decipline to thrive in an environment where people just want to do enough to get by.
I was surprised at how much I found myself agreeing with a majority of the decisions she made about the magazine. I anticipated walking out feeling the exact opposite.

Remember that The Devil Wears Prada was a fictional story based on the perceptions of a woman who used to work for her. The Devil Wears Prada is/was not a documentary.
Think about your boss, especially if you hate him/her. Write a story about how horrible they are. Is that an accurate picture of that person? Would an unbiased documentary paint the same portrait?

Thank you! Finally someone mentions that she knew the cameras were running!!! Of course she was polite. Of course she listened to what others were saying and seemed to take their opinions into account. What else could she have done???
"Sure, lots o' times!"

^ this
All I can think about are dudes.

Does it not occur to you that she KNEW she had the image of a "Dragon lady" and thus in this documentarywhich she sanctionedshe was very conscious of how she would be portrayed and "kept it polite"? I would not trust that we saw every side of the "real" Anna in this film, put it that way. Remember, she authorized this, not long after DevilPrada came out. She knew what people expected and she is certainly smart enough to keep her temper in check when the cameras are running.
Plus, nobody said every detail of DevilPrada (such as the Starbucks) was exactly true.