Ridley Scott chronicles the fall of a fashion empire with a five-star but half-hearted cast

Maurizio Gucci was assassinated in 1995, by order of his wife, after he had sold his majority stake in the fashion brand to a group of Bahrain-based investors in 1993. Ridley Scott traces the story back from the hardships from the luxury Italian house in the 70s to the conviction of the murderers. Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons and Jared Leto are on the trip, starting Wednesday, November 27 in theaters.

Aldo (Al Pacino) and his brother Rodolfo (Jeremy Irons) have been running Italian luxury house Gucci since the patriarch’s death. The succession is difficult, between the son of the first, Paolo (Jared Leto), too fanciful, and Maurizio (Adam Driver) attracted by studies. The latter meets Patrizia (Lay Gaga) with whom he marries and who encourages him to get involved in family affairs. Going adrift following power struggles, then Maurizio separating from Patrizia, the Gucci house goes downhill.

A month and a half later The Last Duel, Ridley Scott is releasing a new film on a subject that fits him like a glove, as a sophisticated filmmaker for whom the fashion world has no secrets: the story of Gucci. With a top-notch cast and such a director, everything should roll. The result is not up to expectations, so much Scott seems detached from the subject, especially in a little personal staging, on a theme where we only speak of company shares, and where emotion is absent.

If the British director dazzled in commissioned works (Alien, Blade runner), House of Gucci has the shortcomings of a film without any real plastic ambition, Scott being below his pictorial prowess, while everything was offered to him with a tailor-made film. The actors are at the rendezvous, sometimes impressive, including Lady Gaga who is confirmed in each film as a great actress. If Patrizia’s ambiguous love for Maurizio has a real interest in the first part, it is won when financial intrigues take over, only to end in a hasty end.

Adapted from Sara Gay Forden’s book, lauded as a thriller in the fashion economy world, House of Gucci does not convey the dark flavor of the plot. The sets, the costumes, the actors are beautiful, in a frozen film that lacks depth.

Kind : Drama / Biopic
Director : Ridley scott
Actors : Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Al Pacino, Jeremy Iron and Jared Leto, Salma Hayek, Camille Cottin
Country : United States / Canada
Duration : 2h37
Exit : November 24, 2021
Distributer : Universal Pictures International France

Synopsis : Gucci is a brand recognized and admired around the world. It was created by Guccio Gucci who opened their first luxury leather goods store in Florence exactly a century ago.
At the end of the 1970s, the Italian fashion empire was at a critical juncture in its history. If the company now shines internationally, it is handicapped by rumors of financial embezzlement, at half-mast innovation and a devaluation of the brand. The group is led by the two sons of the founder – Aldo, a cunning and colorful character, and his brother Rodolfo, much colder and more traditional.
Pugnacious, Aldo has no intention of ceding control of the empire to anyone – and certainly not to his son Paolo, a fanciful boy who aspires to be a stylist. As for Maurizio, shy and overprotected son of Rodolfo, he is more interested in studying law than leading a global luxury group.
It is then that Maurizio falls in love with the lovely and manipulative Patrizia Reggiani and, against his father’s advice, decides to marry her. When Aldo discovers an affinity with Patrizia, he succeeds, with the help of the young woman, in convincing his nephew to give up his legal ambitions to join the company of which he becomes, de facto, the probable heir. This does not fail to feed the resentment of Paolo, whose talent does not live up to his artistic dreams …