Yves Saint Laurent

If you knew enough about Mr. Saint Laurent's life and already in love with his dazzling works on your way in, this film would satisfy you. Otherwise, you were left hanging out there, feeling that something's missing. This biopic did a good job in not overdramatizing the less-than-eventful life of this famous designer. We were allowed to observe the substantial life of Mr. Saint Laurent in a quiet but penetrating way. The actor actually brought back to life Mr. Saint Laurent. Through him, we feel the senses of fulfillment, deprivation, craving for stability or wilderness of love, and we acknowledge that Mr. Saint Laurent and his lifetime companion and business associate truly steered the Saint Laurent ship through the uncertainty of life and multi-faceted forms of human weakness. It shows us that artistic talents, while indispensable, must be supported by mental strength and determination, something Mr. Saint Laurent missed at times. Well, lust for money and financial success does help, I figure, but it is never the main element to real success. To me personally, Mr. Saint Laurent's life is not enough to make a great drama. A biopic, yes, but not a drama. If the script writer should decide to explore inner thinking of Mr. Saint Laurent behind a few of his designs, and the struggle and the inspiration he had during the process, we might be getting a drama in our hands. Another lacking element was the pressure of changing decades / era. The film simply moved us from this year to another, without real insertion on what all these time changes meant. They should have brought us new challenges, fears, uncertainty, and the other world around the fashion world. There was none of it. Judging from this film alone, Mr. Saint Laurent simply floated around this world, graced upon it, and simply left. Not enough.

I was recommended this movie by my sister who is, like many girls, really into fashion. For her Yves Saint-Laurent represents one of the great masters of fashion. A man that was born to make women look beautiful. Now that said, I really don't see anything in the movie a man who is not particularly into fashion could like about it. The story of YSL is boring at best. Not his actual life but the way he is portrayed. Falling into drugs at a pretty young age and not being able to ever keep it together during the majority of his life. He had a boyfriend/manager who is used as the person telling the story of the fashion legend. By the end of the movie, I don't know if you feel like you have find out loads of things about YSL that you didn't know, you are just left to wonder how his boyfriend put up with him for so long.

"Yves Saint Laurent" (2014 release from France; 105 min.) brings the story of one of the biggest names ever in the fashion design industry, YSL. As the movie opens, we are in 1957, where we see young Yves with his family in Oran, Algeria (not long before the revolutionary war breaks out). During the opening titles, we jump to today, where YSL's partner explains why he is selling all of the art they had collected over the last 4+ decades. We then jump back to the late 50s, and it's not long before the crazily-talented YSL is off to Paris, where he works under that other monument of the French fashion industry, Christian Dior. When Dior unexpectedly passes away, YSL becomes the head designer (he was barely 22!). Meanwhile. we also get to know the personal life of YSL. To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: first, there are dueling biopics on YSL currently out there. Besides this movie, there is also the similarly titled "Saint Laurent", also from France, so be careful to be sure that you don't mistakenly confuse one with the other. Second, this movie tries to give us both a look at YSL's professional life and his personal life, but in the end really doesn't do either one justice. It all seems very hurried (the movie covers 1957 through 1976), and as a result the movie lacks depth and drama. That is really a shame as there are some good moments in it. One of those is when YSL is under observation at a military hospital, and YSL's partner tells him: "Do you want to live or do you want to die?" Another good moment comes much later when the same partner observes "You are happy only twice a year: in Spring and in Fall, when the collections come out". I wish there were more such key observations. The two lead actors, Pierre Niney as YSL and Guillaume Gallienne as his partner, give their all in performances covering 2 decades, and it's certainly not their fault that the movie, while promising at times, ultimately falls short. Last but not least, tip o' the old hat to the production design of the movie, with the immaculate reproductions of Paris in the 60s and 70s (check out the old cars!).

"Yves Saint Laurent" opened without any pre-release hype or advertising last summer (July, 2014) at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. I figure it wouldn't be playing long so I went to see it right away (I was right, as it disappeared after only 1 week). The early evening screening I saw this at was not particularly well attended. The other YSL biopic I mentioned earlier is finally opening this weekend here in Cincinnati and I'm looking forward to check that out, just to see how different it is from this one. Meanwhile, well-intended as it is but flawed, I still might suggest you check out "Yves Saint Laurent" when it is released on DVD/Blu-ray. If on the other hand you are a fashion aficionado, then this movie is a must-see!

I have just watched Yves Saint Laurent and found it to be a visually sumptuous film which totally captures the dying days of the elite formal couture houses before bursting into the hedonism of modern global fashion brands. An excellent companion piece to L'Amour Fou (2010), giving an insight into the tempestuous but private relationship between YSL and Pierre Bergé through the pitch perfect acting of Pierre Niney (Yves) and Guillaume Gallienne (Pierre).

The film charts YSL's career from his early years at Dior in the late 1950s through to his iconic Ballet Russes collection of 1976. The world of the late 1950s is perfectly captured with elegant Dior designs, stylish models and a jazz score that matched the chic Parisian apartments the characters inhabit.

In one such apartment Yves meets Pierre Bergé, the man he will spend the rest of his life with both privately and professionally. For Pierre is the man who orchestrates the creation of YSL as a couture house. He gives Yves the confidence to "create on my own terms" and show the world his own particular view of feminine beauty and elegance.

Their relationship mirrors Giancarlo Giammetti and Valentino Garavani who together also created an iconic fashion house and sustained a personal relationship for over 50 years. Their story too is wonderfully and humorously captured in the documentary The Last Emperor (2008). However, one is left with a sense that Giancarlo and Valentino had a much more stable relationship to that of Yves and Pierre. The YSL movie captures during the 1960/70s Yves' erratic excesses with drugs and sex and Pierre's jealousy and need for control.

But this expose of their difficult relationship in no way detracts from the exquisite design throughout the movie. From the elegant, well documented interiors of Yves and Pierre's Parisian apartments, to the bohemian Moroccan lifestyle they enjoyed with the likes of Loulou de la Falaise and Karl Lagerfeld.

This film was a joy to watch with a standout performance by Pierre Niney, whose voice and mannerisms made Yves live once again.

The young up and coming executive of a fashion house who became an industry icon himself.

In this biopic, we are treated to a rather different angle of the legendary designer. We follow his early steps in the world of fashion and how his vision guided him and his unremittingly uncompromising personality made him a stand out. Like all 'celebrities' it was rather sad to see him fall into the alcohol and drugs trap but it was the love of someone else that kept him steady, possible saving from altogether destruction.

Being so open about his homosexuality in such puritanical times was also refreshing to see.

Overall, whilst it might not be a masterpiece of a movie, but still it has style, class and panache to make it a memorable experience even a fitting tribute to this great man of fashion.