From Saint Laurent’s origins as a delicate, reclusive young man of French-Algerian extraction to an icon of haute couture, Lespert’s biopic luxuriates in fine fabrics, domestic demons and mental malaise. It fails, however, to weight these aspects in the life of a tortured genius, presenting innovation alongside insecurity with barely a change in tone and pace. Given the drugs Saint Laurent ingested, there must have been some significant highs but their manifestations here are brief and limited to the catwalk.
Yves Saint Laurent | directed by Jalil Lespert (France 2014) with Pierre Niney, Guillaume Gallienne and Charlotte Le Bon. Starts April 17
Originally published in issue #126 April, 2014