After the opening title card, a white blur in the center of a black screen resolves to the shape of a chicken egg. We penetrate the shell, and watch, in time-lapse, the 21-day development of a chicken embryo, from a germ spot on the yolk to the emergence of the baby chick, compressed into under eight minutes, set to Beethoven's Egmont Overture.
The concept of Poor Little Rich Girl is a day in the life of socialite Edie Sedgwick. Warhol and Gerard Malanga began shooting in March 1965 in Sedgwick's posh New York City apartment. After initial filming and processing, the reels were found to be out of focus due to a faulty camera lens. Warhol then reshot footage, adding it to the original, out-of-focus first reel footage. The first reel depicts an out-of-focus Sedgwick waking up, ordering coffee and orange juice, smoking cigarettes and marijuana, exercising, taking pills and putting on makeup in silence. The only noise is that of an Everly Brothers record playing continuously in the background.
Le film analyse les conditions politiques, économiques et sociales qui ont suscité la construction du mur de Berlin. Il a été tourné en RDA, selon la technique du "cinéma direct" ou cinéma-vérité. Il se construit autour de nombreux témoignages des ouvriers, des entrepreneurs, des paysans, des étudiants, des soldats s'expriment. Il tente de démystifier une série d'idées reçues sur l'Allemagne de l'Est 1965.