It hurts me to say these words about anything, but Gucci house begging to be a Ryan Murphy movie. At least we can really tell if it’s frequent rush into the acid camp is intentional. Ridley Scott’s film is a must-see movie that I can’t pass up for the world. But it couldn’t settle for a consistent tone – too long and undisciplined because it scattered between high drama and opera. “I didn’t know I was married to a monster,” Lady Gaga hissed as Patrizia Reggiani grimaced, after her marriage to fashion brand Maurizio Gucci had gone up in flames. “You didn’t,” returns to Adam Driver in the second role. “You’re married to a Gucci.”
Such flexible exchanges are reminiscent of the glory days of the 1980s age, when big emotions like shoulder pads and hair, along with the obscene things going on behind the wealth and glamor of a family business empire provided for extraordinary storylines. The difference here is that the seed story of love, betrayal and murder is based on reality. But any morbid trick suggested by the true story seal is lost in sloppy execution. Scott returns to the same territory of dynastic riches, bad crime and the Italian setting just four years later All the money in the world, sure but at least authoritative. This time he seems to be directing by numbers.
Gucci house
Key point
Pasta was overcooked, sauce was smoky.
Tell what you’ll know about the Ryan Murphy factory, but at least he dives in with an unabashed commitment to bad excess, making him an ideal character for stories. real life about the worst and trendiest murders. (Just watch the crazy Judith Light episode of The Assassination of Gianni Versace for a good example.) Scott seems strangely unsure of himself here, not helped by Becky Johnston’s clumsy dialogue and Roberto Bnkinggna’s pedestrian script. Nor can it be because of the challenges of filming a decades-long TV series, trotting across the globe during a pandemic. Worse even by a less cohesive cast but no shortage of difficult scenes.
Aside from the amazing period production and costume design for sure, the highest point was Gaga’s completely tilted performance, even – or perhaps especially – when she transformed into Steven Van Zandt on Sopranos while giving orders to beat her estranged husband. (My partner has narrowed his eyes and pointed his finger at me, growling, “Don’t meese” ever since the trailer dropped the curtain.)
In a more frequent gig that isn’t dialed up to 110, Gaga puts on a performance through the air, bringing intense charisma and ferocious driving to Patrizia, an accountant at a trucking company. set of her family, who married Maurizio Gucci in 1972 and was shot and killed by an assassin. 1995. Even when she’s just lighting a cigarette or stirring an espresso, Gaga plunges into the character with a wild sense of fascination. Whenever she appeared on screen, the movie was lit up with electricity. In contrast, Driver – in his second consecutive project for Scott after Last match – rather lightly, creating a complex character using more nuanced means. That puts the two in the lead pretty much in different movies.
Then there are the supporting players, led by Jeremy Irons as Maurizio’s snobby father, the former Rodolfo actor, with a fluent accent between standard Italian and Oxbridge. On another level is the confrontation between Al Pacino and Jared Leto as Maurizio’s pompous Uncle Aldo and his goofy son Paolo. Leto won that contest by a mile with an incredible clown-like costume and prosthetic performance. And not in a good way. “My life has been difficult, really difficult. I haven’t had a sheet of paper for a week,” he groans, in an atypical line about a character seemingly obsessed with going to the bathroom. “Never confuse sheet with cioccolato, ” He recorded afterwards, not understanding what, I could not say.
I guess Gaga and Pacino can play Italian American, but really, Gucci house should be equivalent to an animal welfare disclaimer, stating: “No Italians were involved in the making of this film.” It’s a hole of wobbly accents.
That said, it’s never been more fun than when Gaga’s Patrizia is conspiring with her friend Pina (Salma Hayek), a psychic and a cheap hired cat lady, to win back her dwindling influence she’s in the Gucci family and eventually the Maurizio gang. The scene of their spa day, in which grave matters are discussed in mud baths, is a battle of wits. Pina suggests, “When we return from the Caymans, we can cast an evil eye on him,” suggested Pina, initially trying to thwart the murderous plan. The funny joke about Hayek marrying François-Henri Pinault – CEO of Kering, the French high-fashion group that currently controls Gucci – will not be escaped.
From its first appearance, it’s clear the film belongs to Gaga as Patrizia sasha walks past her father’s truck depot toward the office, donning a tailored suit and heels, basking in the whistling sound. of wolves and comments from drivers with obvious amusement. She met Maurizio at a posh party in disco-era Milan and had stars in her eyes as soon as she heard his last name.
She puts herself in his way so often that he is forced to ask her out; it wasn’t long before he introduced her to dadRodolfo, son of the founder of fashion house Guccio Gucci. She couldn’t say a Klimt from Picasso, but Rodolfo found Patrizia charming until Maurizio started talking marriage, at which point he was quickly turned down.
Based on Sara Gay Forden’s 2001 book of the same name, the script is rather sharp in its exploration of caste issues, suggesting that the Gucci clan is a self-appointed royalty rather than a legitimate aristocracy. . Rodolfo found Patrizia acceptable as a toy for his son, but immediately judged her to be a gold digger when Maurizio brought her into the family. That happens in a short cut from the two of them madly hugging on Patrizia’s office desk to her walking down the aisle in a gaudy bridal gown, accompanied by George’s “Faith.” Michael mysteriously. Because it’s a Catholic wedding, maybe?
In Driver’s somewhat limited performance – discreetly or discreetly, depending on how you look at him – we can approach the psychological intimacy of Maurizio as the passion of the early years subsides and the Patrizia’s vulgarity began to disappear. This is noticeable in a ski resort scene in St. Moritz with his wealthy friends, including the woman who will replace Patrizia, Paola Franchi (Camille Cottin). The biggest slap in the face came when he gave Patrizia a Bloomingdale’s gift card for Christmas. Noisy. Adding that sly humor might have given the film some satire.
Long before the rifts in their marriage became irreparable, Patrizia urged Maurizio to overcome his conflict over joining the family business, mending the rift with his father properly. time to take the old man’s majority stake in the company, albeit with some cunning moves. At first, she found an ally, the company president Uncle Aldo, as they went back and forth between Milan and New York; and she manages to work around gauche dimwit Paolo, whose fantasy is to be a visionary designer. But when the two become entangled in Maurizio’s control, Patrizia declares, “Time to take out the trash.”
What she doesn’t take into account is grass-roots snake family attorney Domenico De Sole, a bailed role that Jack Huston barely signed up for — except for the extent to which he resembles Tom Ford more than Reeve Carney, who was short spin up in that role.
In the scene of St. Moritz above, Patrizia responds to a question about the meringue she brought with her with a rambling monologue about a trip to Paris with Maurizio. “You are filling the story with unnecessary details,” he told her in a cut dismissal. “They just want to know where you get your macaroons, honey.” In a sense, that’s what Johnson and Bnkinggna’s script does. Given that this is a movie rather than an ’80s miniseries, it’s too cluttered with hectic plot twists that constantly take us away from the very foundation of Patrizia and Maurizio’s fractured relationship. Or maybe it’s just that the energy of the movie plummets whenever Gaga leaves the camera.
Sure, it was interesting to learn about Aldo’s tax evasions and the company’s secrecy that prompted him and Paolo to leave the company when Maurizio partnered with Bahraini financial group Investcorp. But Scott couldn’t get much juice out of these developments. The same goes for the makeover after Gucci becomes démodé and Texan wunderkind Ford (Carney) is brought in to revolutionize fashion – complete with a brief, benevolent appearance from an actor. fake Anna Wintour evil.
Despite the frantic operatic chords that crept in between random ’80s songs by Eurythmics, David Bowie, Donna Summer, Blondie, etc., slowness frequently crept into the film, even when it had to collect sucks in suspense as the predictive (and counter-climatic) footage of Maurizio’s approach. Scott, who first joined the project in 2006, seems convinced that he is working on something similar to Godfather. But instead, the action continues to slide into unintentional temper, never more so when Patrizia and Pina are negotiating with the killers.
Cinematographer Dariusz Wolski combines glitz with faded period looks for dramatic effect, but Arthur Max’s production design and Janty Yates’ costumes provide plenty of lavish detailing. So is Gaga, who commands attention in a car completely dependent on her rather than A star was born, where the spotlight is split equally between Bradley Cooper. Her job here can be tough, but she’s passionately living the role, bringing heat to Patrizia’s growing hunger and despair in a chaotic drama that rarely burns.
