“Saint Laurent” very chic, the biopic – Echoes

A few months after the film Lespert, Bertrand Bonello addresses turn to myth and refuses Saint Laurent biopic conventions.

Saint Laurent (Bertrand Bonelloavec Gaspard Ulliel, Jérémie Renier, Léa Seydoux, Louis Garrel … 2 hours 30 minutes.)

French cinema does not hate stutter. After the two filmed biographies about Coco Chanel in 2008 and the two “War of the Buttons” in 2011, it was the turn of Yves Saint Laurent to be doubly a statue in the pantheon of national cinema.

After the classic and compelling film Lespert in January (with Pierre Guillaume Gallienne and Niney), Bertrand Bonello tackles the life and work of designer worship a biopic that was presented at Cannes in May. Result: no reward. However, the film has been selected to represent France at the Oscars.

Destruct

In “Saint Laurent”, the director of “Pornographer” and “House of Tolerance, memories House of Tolerance “remains true to his own way: modern, trendy and arty. If the film follows a few “big” moments of the existence of YSL – his male romances, friendships with supermodels – and showcases some prestigious fashion shows, he refuses the conventions of the genre, the psychological analysis and seeks to account for almost sensory way of self-destruction of a man severely angry with himself.

Hypnotic

Under the patronage of Marcel Proust and Andy Warhol, marked by long sequences of festivals where alcohol flows freely and where drugs imposes its laws everywhere, the “Saint Laurent” Bonello restores some fragments of the seventies furious. The opportunity for the filmmaker, nostalgic for an era that has not known of to track the wanderings of the hero and his sidekicks: dandies who swear by the derangement of all the senses. Result: two thirty film hypnotic, beautifully decorated, filmed and starring Gaspard Ulliel in the title role, Jérémie Renier in Pierre Berge, Louis Garrel by Jacques de Bascher, Lea Seydoux Loulou de la Falaise …

The film will delight fans by Bertrand Bonello and those who praise the aestheticised drifts. For others, they will have some reason to believe that the biopic of Lespert less brilliant in its staging, was more informative. And certainly more modest.

O. B.