R.J Cutlers, is a filmmaker better known for his hard hitting political exposees. But in The September Issue he takes us behind-the-scenes at American Vogue.

The Vogue team are preparing for the 2007 September issue. It is the magazine’s most important issue – the size of a telephone book, it is filled with ads and sets the tone for the next fashion season.

The focus of the film however, is not the magazine itself, but the world’s scariest fashion editor – Anna Wintour. With her trademark bob, her huge sunglasses and her semi-British accent, Wintour is probably the most powerful person in the world of fashion, in fact one of her staff members refers to her ‘the Pope’.

For me, the most surprising thing about this film was how it exposed how unglamourous the world of Vogue really is. I’d always pictured all these young, intelligent women swanning around light filled offices in the latest designer fashions.

But the fact is that Vogue is actually run by a small number of older, decidedly unglamourous and extremely hardworking women.

And although Wintour is a celebrity in her own right, it is refreshing to see she isn’t a botoxed, over-tanned fashion victim, but rather an intelligent and incredibly hardworking and dedicated woman with a very definite idea of what she wants. Her power is such that it doesn’t often require words – a look is as good as a command.

However, for me the real standout of the film was the magazine’s Creative Director, Grace Coddington – whose talent as a stylist and director of fashion shoots even has Wintour describing her as a genius.

Coddington and Wintour started at American Vogue on the same day and have worked together for two decades. They bicker like an old married couple, but have seemed to find a balance between the creative and the practical.

Coddington is always by Wintour’s side; at every fashion show, visiting every designer. She is large and slightly awkwards and her teased red hair, black dresses and sensible sandals a constant contrast to Wintour’s neat little floral dresses, cardigans and stilletoes.

But Coddington is funny, intelligent and devoted to her work. She seems to be the only person in the office who isn’t afraid of Anna and is always reminding the younger stylists that they must be more assertive towards the editor.

The September Issue is a must-see for fans of the magazine who have always wanted to know more about what goes on behind the scenes.