Yves Saint Laurent
Director: Jalil Lespert
Year Released: 2014
Rating: 1.0
Abbreviated chronicle of the long-term partnership between iconic French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent (Pierre Niney) and Pierre Bergé (Guillaume Gallienne) and all the fighting and affection that went along with it. Having an extreme personal fascination with fashion (nothing wrong with looking nice, you know?), I've seen various documentaries and specials on Saint Laurent and Bergé, and almost all of them are more insightful and thought-provoking than this, which is more about the troubled couple's sexual adventures (and YSL's fondness for drugs) than the real importance of the matter, which is YSL's gift as a designer and the process he undertook to design the iconic clothes that made him an international superstar (Lespert's use of The Chambers Brothers to signal the blossoming of YSL's fame is lazy). The result is a deadening recreation of the couple cheating and bickering; it hints that the union of the two was revolutionary but never convinces anyone why anyone should care. At least Niney's neurotic, introverted impersonation of Saint Laurent is precise.
