Reviews

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  ★★★★★ review by Ay Vn on Letterboxd

  A classically put together film.

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  ★★★½ review by Ken Rudolph on Letterboxd

  Yves Saint Laurent was a wunderkind. He was 5 years older than I; but I recall vividly a feeling of envy when he took over the House of Dior in his early 20s. I wasn't really a women's fashion maven until the advent of Project Runway. But Saint Laurent was something special; and without knowing anything about him and his world except what I read and saw in Paris Match at the time, he was somehow important to me in the abstract.

  So it was with fervid anticipation that I looked forward to watching this biopic of his life, told more or less from the point of view of his once lover, husband and business partner, Pierre Bergé (an insightful performance by Guillaume Gallienne). As to Saint Laurent the man, I'm glad that the film personalized this shadowy figure. But, truthfully, this film didn't really add to my understanding of him. Certainly it clarified with many examples of his creations that YSL was a designer genius. And for sure Pierre Niney gave an eerie, wispy, true-to-life physicality to the titular role. Still, the very episodic nature of the narrative just played like highlights of his early career (it barely touched on the second half of his life after the 1970s). But the script didn't clarify or explicate his character beyond the obvious neuroses and shyness.

  At least this is one biopic that presented its hero as unabashedly gay. And the production itself, with montages set to glorious Maria Callas arias, played up the gay angle, even if it was quite coy about any real sex. Bottom line: sumptuous costumes, scanty insights.

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  ★★★★ review by Juliana on Letterboxd

  Yves saint laurent truly was a genius.

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  ★★★★½ review by Sofie on Letterboxd

  My love for fashion, beautiful man, interesting stories, good acting, perfect cinematography, a good gay story, french, the atmosphere from the 50's, 60's and 70's was really well fed during this movie. Yves Saint Laurent will always be one of my fashion icons and watching how he build his empire made in this beautiful film, was perfection. The last 5 minutes had me crying.

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  ★★★½ review by clarabesson on Letterboxd

  Des images incroyables et une performance à couper le souffle

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