Plot
A look at the life of French designer Yves Saint Laurent from the beginning of his career in 1958 when he met his lover and business partner, Pierre Berge.
Release Year: 2014
Rating: 6.3/10 (2,096 voted)
Critic's Score: 47/100
Director: Jalil Lespert
Stars: Pierre Niney, Guillaume Gallienne, Charlotte Le Bon
Storyline
A look at the life of French designer Yves Saint Laurent from the beginning of his career in 1958 when he met his lover and business partner, Pierre Berge.
Writers: Laurence Benaïm, Jacques Fieschi
Cast: Pierre Niney -
Yves Saint Laurent
(as Pierre Niney de la Comédie-Française)
Guillaume Gallienne -
Pierre Bergé
(as Guillaume Gallienne de la Comédie Française)
Charlotte Le Bon -
Victoire Doutreleau
Laura Smet -
Loulou de la Falaise
Marie de Villepin -
Betty Catroux
Nikolai Kinski -
Karl Lagerfeld
Ruben Alves -
Fernando Sanchez
Astrid Whettnall -
Yvonne de Peyerimhoff
Marianne Basler -
Lucienne Saint Laurent
Adeline D'Hermy -
Anne-Marie Munoz
(as Adeline D'Hermy de la Comédie-Française)
Xavier Lafitte -
Jacques de Bascher
Jean-Édouard Bodziak -
Bernard Buffet
Alexandre Steiger -
Jean-Pierre Debord
Michèle Garcia -
Raymonde Zehnacker
Olivier Pajot -
Charles
Language: French, English, Russian, Arabic, Japanese
Release Date: 8 January 2014
Technical Specs
Runtime:
User Review
Author:
Rating: 8/10
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.
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