Yves Saint Laurent (2014)

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.

This reminds me of flipping through a spiral bound photo album... nice pictures but what's going on... who are these people... what are they feeling... why... why... why... did he, or they, or she... Like Wikipedia we get some factual display of events but little interpretation. Great fashion shows and everyone, almost without exception, is beautiful. I must confess I fell asleep several times so maybe I missed some key elements.It may well be, in the style of French movies, that clues lurk, waiting for discovery on the third or fourth viewing, but first time around I left wondering, unsatisfied with many questions. I got a good sense for what things looked like, but little understanding.

YVES SAINT-LAURENT traces the career of the eponymous fashion designer (Pierre Niney) from his early days in the late Fifties to the zenith of his fame two decades later. The film concentrates on his professional as well as his personal struggles with long-time lover (and manager) Pierre Bergé (Guillaume Gallienne).Director Jalil Lespert makes a lot out of Saint-Laurent's background as an outsider; born in Algeria during the colonial period, he never really felt at home in mainstream Parisian society. He began his career by following existing fashion patterns; but after being dismissed as "boring," immediately after leaving the house of Dior (Patrice Thibaud) he branched out on his own. This proved a wise move, as the film shows how he shot to stardom with a series of daring and often innovatory designs. There are several shots of Saint-Laurent working on his new creations day and night, to the despair of Pierre.YVES SAINT-LAURENT offers a sumptuous recreation of Fifties and Sixties Parisian society. Deliberately shot in washed-out colors, the film conjures up a lost world of large saloon cars, packed streets and never-ending parties where Saint-Laurent spent most of his leisure-time. The models' hairstyles are deliberately ostentatious, especially that of principal mannequin Victoire (Charlotte Le Bon) who at first attracts and then repels Saint- Laurent.Lespert's film doesn't tell us much about Saint-Laurent's life, other than the fact that he was something of a tortured genius, always on the lookout for personal as well as professional satisfaction but never seeming to find it. He enjoys a close relationship with his mother (Marianne Basler), and later on in life he always runs back to Pierre for emotional as well as professional support. With his black horn-rimmed lenses and increasingly disheveled hair-styles, Niney gives a convincing portrayal of the designed. On the other hand, perhaps the script should have offered more insight into how Saint-Laurent became such an iconic figure of the fashion world; what was it about him that made him so popular with both high society and the ordinary consumer.As Pierre, Galienne has to make the best of a supporting role, and succeeds brilliantly. He comes across as a patient person, ever ready to forgive Saint-Laurent's excesses; but nonetheless dedicated to the fledgling fashion-house's future success. In several backstage sequences he is shown managing the models, designers and other assorted hangers-on with quiet efficiency, clipboard in hand. It was mostly down to his efforts that the house of Saint-Laurent enjoyed its global success; without him, the designer might have only had limited appeal.YVES SAINT-LAURENT is definitely watchable - some of the party- scenes where the hero enters a drug-filled world of fantasy and hallucination - are particularly memorably shot. But I still think the film represents something of a missed opportunity to dramatize the life of an icon.

The movie starts with the young Yves Saint Laurent, sitting on his small desk and sketching. The whole story-line is being told by his long-term partner and only lover, Pierre Berge. What I like about this movie, in my humble opinion, is that it takes you, step by step, throughout the time-line of the events, labelling every major event with the year it has happened in. That helped in saving the troubles of loosing contact throughout the film, by keeping you on track with the dates, like the date of the "Le Smoking" collection which was in 1967; it was written on the screen in order to clarify when that major event happened. The movie describes precisely what happened in the artist's life, whether on the runway or backstage and during the creations of the magnificent masterpieces that he created. The film is very clear and has shown no difference nor editing to the true story, and all of the cast played their right parts in a great way, specially Pierre Niney's performance that deserves a stand in ovation, chapeau! They did their researches and reached whoever they could reach in order to gather as much information about the deceased legend, and it did pay off. Niney took sketching, vocal, and drawing classes for this role. They even used original pieces from Yves's collections -which exceeds 8,000 pieces, and with the generous help of Monsieur Berge and other people who have personally worked with Monsieur Laurent, they've put everything in its right place. The music matched the film perfectly and set the ambiance in the right way, and Ibrahim Maalouf did a great job when choosing the Jazz/Blues genres for the songs and music composed, whether made originally for the biopic, or carefully chosen to match the themes of the film. It is a remarkable touch what Jalil Lespert made when ending the movie as the much older Yves is -as the beginning of the film, seated on a small desk and sketching, but this time, accompanied with his beloved partner Pierre Berge.The movie is not at all a "gay story", it is a very touching story of a man who was an artist, a genius, a lover of life and beauty. A man who was very shy and fragile that he only found strength in what he did and in how Pierre loved him. Very inspirational that story is, sad, but very life changing. The film clearly showed all the sides of Yves' life, even gave a glimpse about his childhood, and how he was constantly bullied in school. If you are not much of a reader-type, and you like watching more than reading, then this biopic is the right one for you; it will give you the required information you need about that Fashion-God, maybe a bit more than you need, but you will sure be satisfied and fulfilled. Yves Saint Laurent: a film that shan't be missed. It is the least that could be done to a man who saw women as masterpieces of art and did his best, and much more, to make the world see them that way as well.