L’AMOUR FOU (Pierre Thoretton). 103 minutes. Subtitled. Opens Friday (May 27). See listing. Rating: NN
Those uninitiated to the world of haute couture and prêt-à-porter will be left scratching their heads at Pierre Thoretton’s overly deterministic requiem for late designer Yves Saint Laurent. L’Amour Fou assumes familiarity with the couturier’s bio and the fashion world, maybe rightly so, since it follows not only two previous Saint Laurent docs but also 2009’s Valentino: The Last Emperor.
Still, more info as to why the man’s fashions were so innovative (Wiki does it better) or why his life was meaningful might have made this portrait more worthwhile.
Instead, the film offers little more than the selective recollections of Pierre Bergé, Saint Laurent’s life and business partner. Bergé elliptically talks about the designer’s work, substance abuse and depression as asides while cataloguing their luxurious homes and ridiculously vast art collection. The latter takes on increasing significance because the film pivots around an auction of these very same objects.
It all feels like a detached tour of Saint Laurent’s mausoleum, where we browse artifacts that reveal very little about their owner besides his blatant void-filling self-indulgence. They may have auctioned for millions, but Bergé says it best when he describes these objects as soulless. He could be speaking about the film, too.
