Saint Laurent

The movie should not be seen from the point of view of fashion just. It is the story of the persona that was YSL. I would recommend to read previously 'The Beautiful Fall' (by Alicia Drake) for an insight perspective of this tragic life. The depiction of the 'interiors' could not have been more accourate, considering that the real art-collection has been dismantled and sold by Pierre Berge, and the apartment on rue Babylon, emptied. However the producers have taken the trouble to recreate it close to perfection. Another thing is, if the movie is confusing and with bad acting, or boring, YSL was manic-deppresive and despite of his fashion creations, he was flat, shallow, uninteresting, narcissistic, and extremely selfish, and most probably boring even under the influence.

There is no doubt that YSL was a creative genius. His work in fashion will be remembered forever. I came to this movie with fresh eyes. I knew the “brand” but very little about the man. Although YSL achieved great fame and wealth I often looked at him in this film with grief, pity and sadness. He was a chain smoker, drug addict, alcoholic and engaged in risky sexual behavior. His social life was very toxic according to todays standards. I don’t say this out of judgement but of sadness. I don’t know if he ever found real happiness. For those who love pets and animals, the tragic fate of YSL’s dog Moujik is particularly disturbing. Because YSL was Gay this film portrays a lot of “soft core” homosexual activity including full-frontal male/female nudity. The film is mainly in French with English subtitles. All lover’s of fashion history should see this film.

This movie is a whole mess just like Yves Saint Laurent's personal life. The director wasted the talents of three top name good actors. I do not see how this movie got any nominations but out of pity. The movie was all over the place. The story line was badly edited and conversations and scenes were often too long. For example, I know the French side only spoke French to their American investor but using a translator in this long scene, repeating word for word of her french boss over his speech--not good. This went on for eternity. There are so many devices in writing to move this scene forward. The issue is this one of few very informative scenes. It explained the business issues. If you never had know anything about his personal and professional life, this movie did not tell it well. The only reason to see this is to see Gaspard Ulliel beautifully nude. I repeat this movie waste the talents of Ulliel, my favorite Louis Garrel, and Jeremy Renier. For a better movie explaining YSL, rent: "Yves Saint-Laurent". It explains the life with a better time line of events.

I saw the Yves Saint Laurent biopic and there is no comparison. This film was so S L O W and made no sense. If you want to learn who Saint Laurent was, see the other movie. This one was definitely more racy, and sexy in some way, but it was hard to follow, and I lost interest.

This might be the worst crime ever committed by a French filmmaker: a film about one of the world’s most important fashion designers (who was FRENCH) that is flat, lifeless and dull. Gaspard Ulliel gives the role as he got, but Bertrand Bonello has not given him much at all. Largely focused on the era of 1967 to 1976, it boggles the mind how a movie about this man at this time in his life would be so boring. There are some of the beautiful clothes, there are some pretty colors, there are teases of 1970’s decadence. But the entire film is a waste of some very talented actors, and the story notorious and incredible creative force. This is 150 minutes of dead weight that never seems to decide if it “likes” YSL or “despises” him. But worst of all, it feels like he was not an interesting person. We know this is not the case.