Yves Saint Laurent: His Life and Times and Yves Saint Laurent 5 Avenue Marceau 75116 Paris (2002) review

Two documentaries by Teboul about the late, great and considerably awkward French fashion giant Yves Mathieu-Saint-Laurent (why drop the Matthew, Yves?) has the legend discussing his empire (from the age 16) onwards (in His Life and Times) and showing his 'creative process' (in 5 Avenue Marceau) ... but both pictures are woefully static and unappealing. His Life and Times consists of Yves watching footage on a TV monitor and giving a brief narration of his life - broken up by unrevealing interviews with his mother, business partner/former lover and colleagues - while 5 Avenue Marceau has him sitting in a chair and drawing, smoking and picking apart the flaws in the dresses his assistants dutifully create (while the camera plays the role of fly-on-the-wall). At the very least the 5 Avenue Marceau documentary reveals the laborious process of piecing together a dress and then 'perfecting' it (according to YSL's sense of style), which might explain why those things are so damn expensive.