Sienna Miller plays the ill-fated Andy Warhol muse Edie Sedgwick. The story of New York it girl, fashion icon and Andy Warhol muse Edie Sedgwick (1943-71) has taken on the proportions of a cult myth, as do most true tales of brief, intense lives. Focusing on the year or so in the mid-1960s when she burned brightest and crashed most dramatically, "Factory Girl" boasts its own bright intensity, fueled in large part by leads Sienna Miller and Guy Pearce. Director George Hickenlooper captures the energy and ultra-irony of Warhol's scene, but his attempts to give the film a conventional biopic arc end up wallowing in dime-store psychology. The central performances will generate strong word-of-mouth for the picture, which enters limited release today.

A work-in-progress version that the Weinstein Co. screened only weeks ago had a rawer, more immediate power than the final cut. In particular, the addition of a framing interview set in 1970 -- with Miller's Sedgwick in scrubbed California-girl mode, having abandoned Manhattan, heavy eyeliner and hard drugs -- has a defusing effect, explaining what already is evident, especially when it is used in voice-over. Intercut talking-head comments from the likes of George Plympton and one of Sedgwick's brothers, which provided far more interesting context and commentary than the current narration by Sedgwick, are now relegated to the end-credits sequence.

Some of the changes might have to do with Bob Dylan's objections to the original script and threatened legal action. He apparently was concerned that the film would draw a cause-and-effect line between the end of his relationship with Sedgwick and her suicide. (Sedgwick has long been viewed as a key inspiration to "Blonde on Blonde"-era Dylan, but whether they did indeed have a love affair appears less likely.) Coyly unnamed in the film, the famous, scruffy musician who temporarily draws Edie out of the Warhol orbit is clearly based on Dylan. If anything, though, the character, played by a charismatic Hayden Christensen, comes across as the sole voice of reason in Sedgwick's increasingly out-of-control life.

"Factory Girl" draws a too-easy opposition between the musician's authenticity and the artificiality of Warhol's world of surfaces. But at its strongest, it explores a timeless tension between style and substance, form and meaning. At the center of this tug of war is the blueblood gamine Sedgwick, a striking beauty and would-be artist whose unique glamour snags Warhol's heart, inasmuch as he will admit to having one.

Perhaps the cruelest irony of Sedgwick's story, as it is presented here, is that she escapes her troubled family, albeit on trust-fund purse strings, only to end up in the grip of another ultimately poisonous clan. If there is a villain here besides Edie's father (James Naughton), the part goes to Warhol (Pearce). After making Edie the "superstar" of his controversial movies, he jealously guilt-trips her over her involvement with the rock star. He is an unlikely Oedipal figure for Sedgwick, whose suspicions toward happy-family facades are explained in all-too-familiar melodramatic fashion.

Pearce, one of the most versatile of screen actors, is compelling and witty as the pallid Svengali, for whom society gossip seeps into even Catholic confession. His anxious, hungry gaze conveys envy, self- loathing and a childlike fascination with beauty. As the beauty who for a while captivated him beyond all others, Miller delivers a powerful performance, often baring all to give us Edie at her most candlelit exquisite as well as her most degraded. From the throaty laugh and old-money inflections to the extreme vulnerability, neediness and intelligence, she brings to life Sedgwick's legendary allure.

Supporting performances are a mixed bag, ranging from the awkward (a decidedly unflamboyant Jimmy Fallon as a "flamboyant socialite," Mena Suvari as rich girl Richie and Illeana Douglas as Diana Vreeland) to the convincing (Armin Amiri as fellow Factory girl Ondine, Beth Grant as Andy's mother and Edward Herrmann as the Sedgwick family attorney).

Screenwriter Captain Mauzner, who co-scripted the John Holmes-centered "Wonderland," indulges in too much explanatory psychologizing. But stripped of that overlay, his screenplay often sizzles with the self- conscious humor of smart nonconformists. DP Michael Grady ably helps Hickenlooper pay homage to Warhol's inventively bad-is-good filmmaking and renowned B&W screen tests. Playing '60s New York, Shreveport, La., lends a fitting vintage feel, while the production design by Jeremy Reed and John Dunn's costumes create an exuberant blend of high society and underground scene.

Factory Girl

Bob Yari Prods.

Credits: Producer: Holly Wiersma Producer: Bob Yari Producer: Richard Golub Producer: Malcolm Petal Producer: Kimberly C. Anderson Producer: Morris Bart Director: George Hickenlooper Screen Writer: Captain Mauzner

Cast: Actor: Sienna Miller Actor: Guy Pearce Actor: Hayden Christensen Actor: Jimmy Fallon

MPAA rating: R Running time: 87