A beautiful spread of colorful and edgy fashion photos sits on a starch-white counter as Anna Wintour, editor in chief of Vogue magazine, walks slowly down the line of photographs. “No,” she says pushing a few of the pictures out of the line. No one questions or fights her words, because at the temple of Vogue, Wintour is God.

Meant to be a documentary about Anna’s professional work on the longest and most important issue of Vogue, “The September Issue” quickly turns into a movie about the power play between Wintour and her staff. While the film does give an exclusive look at the mysterious figurehead stripped of her infamous sunglasses, it does little to give the audience an in-depth look at the magazine’s production or the people involved. The film itself ends just as superficial as the people shown on the screen.

Director R.J. Cutler chooses to show only pieces of conversation said in passing about how much the magazine spends to create the September issue’s bloated 840 pages of content. Glossing over the essence of the industry, Cutler shows little about what the industry is truly about — consumerism.

Often known as the ice queen of fashion, Wintour instills just as much quivering and fear into the hearts of her staff as her fictional counterpart played by Meryl Streep in the 2006 film “The Devil Wears Prada.”

There is one character, however, that is willing to stand up against Wintour’s all-powerful opinions. Flame-haired creative director Grace Coddington fights with Wintour on almost every spread she produces. Coddington becomes easily relatable, as she looks at the magazine more as creating beautiful art than making an off-putting elitist product.

One of the more amusing and endearing aspects of the film is that Cutler displays the Vogue employees’ keen awareness of the world’s view of the magazine industry. Each of them spouts lines about how the rest of the world would say that the industry is superficial and a waste, but they know better. Wintour herself explains in the beginning of the film that the people on the outside simply feel threatened by fashion for its power to expose insecurities.

The film often feels exaggerated, as the characters’ glamorous lives make them seem more quixotic than real.

Adding comedic value to the film, Wintour’s personality is often so cold audiences can do nothing but chuckle at her unreal guardedness. In one scene, she sifts through photograph sheets of accessories for the issue, looking up at the staff and asking them what they could have possibly found refreshing about the looks.

Though content is sometimes lacking in parts, the film looks just as beautiful as the pages of the magazine. Cutler works hard to make sure that each shot is as glamorous as Wintour’s life. The Vogue office itself is only shown in crisp and clean perfection.

While the film may not give the audience much new information about producing such a high-profile publication, it does give a rare fly-on-the-wall look at one of the most mysterious people in the industry. It’s not much, but the film does begin to chip away at the icy wall put up by the queen of Vogue.

“The September Issue” was directed by R.J. Cutler.