Film review: Saint Laurent
Could a film about haute couture — arguably the epitome of narcissism — be too self-absorbed? The answer appears to be an emphatic yes, judging by the looks of Saint Laurent, an impeccably dressed, tastefully photographed and abysmally scripted biopic about the late French designer.
Starring: Gaspard Ulliel, Jeremie Renier, Louis Garrel
Director: Bertrand Bonello
Category: III (French and English)
Could a film about haute couture — arguably the epitome of narcissism — be too self-absorbed? The answer appears to be an emphatic yes, judging by the looks of Saint Laurent, an impeccably dressed, tastefully photographed and abysmally scripted biopic about the late French designer.
At a languorous 150 minutes, it does an impressive job of reminding us that Yves Saint Laurent — played as a highly sexualised being by model-actor Gaspard Ulliel (the cannibalistic lead in 2007's Hannibal Rising) — drank and smoked a lot, took drugs occasionally and had affairs with beautiful men.
This clumsy attempt at an intimate portrait is co-written and directed by Bertrand Bonello, whose better known works (2001's The Pornographer and 2011's House of Tolerance) reveal as much about his interest in reckless hedonism as his affinity to pompous mannerism that sometimes borders on tedium.
Unlike Jalil Lespert's bland, authorised Yves Saint Laurent (released earlier this year), which was granted access to the YSL archives by the designer's former lover and long-term business partner Pierre Berge, Saint Laurent was threatened by Berge with a lawsuit — as his character here (played by Jeremie Renier) does in one scene after Saint Laurent gives a scandalous interview.
In view of this, costume designer Anais Romand has done a stellar job re-creating the Saint Laurent wardrobe without the blessing of the brand.
To avoid repeating Lespert's take, Bonello has left out much of Saint Laurent's relationship with Berge (the subject of a 2010 documentary, L'Amour Fou), his apprenticeship with Christian Dior, the founding of his own brand, and almost everything that happened outside the years between 1967 and 1977.