Bertrand Bonello's Saint Laurent spans the life of Yves Saint Laurent, focusing on the peak years of his career from 1967 to 1976, where Laurent was debateably the most famed fashion designer in the world. At 150 minutes in length, Saint Laurent is an overlong endeavor, but what it lacks in pacing, the film makes up in artistic vision, with Bertrand Bonello creating one of the more unique biopics in recent years. Coherency isn't the film's strong suit, but what Bonello has created with Saint Laurent is a film that provides an intricate and complex look into the life of one of the most important men in fashion history, exploring his fragility as a man whose become bigger than life in the eyes of his contemporaries. As a whole the film leaves the viewer with a lot of questions that are never answered, but I'd challenge anyone who criticizes the film's cohesiveness by simply asking if any person's true life is as cut-and-dry and most narratives present them. While I must admit the first hour of Saint Laurent can be a bit of a slog, the film becomes exponentially more interesting as it progresses, focusing more on the psychological perspective of Yves Saint Laurent, something in which Bonello as a director shines. At its core, the film is very much about the tortured soul of an artist, presenting a man in Yves Saint Laurent who is constantly questioning his own merits as an artist, wrestling with consumerism, and intimacy. Bonello's use of surrealism increases as Yves Saint Laurent's psyche spirals more and more out of control, offering a powerful and artistic perspective into the emotional state of this character. Bursting with lavish sets, costumes, and a vivid color pallete, Bertrand Bonello's Saint Laurent is a convoluted but fascinating examination of a tortured artist, that isn't afraid to break the rules of time to create its unique portrait.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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