Review of Saint Laurent (2014) by Matt C — 16 Jun 2015

Saint Laurent may not be the worst movie of the year, but it certainly is the most frustrating. Past its very good first 70 minutes, it quickly becomes extremely repetitive and uninteresting. The main problem with both of these is that this film doesn't seem to think of itself modestly.

It thinks that it's brilliant, when it really feels like a poor attempt to emulate Sofia Coppola (and I LOVE Sofia Coppola). The acting is solid throughout, but the Eurostyle allure wears off halfway through, leaving a movie that doesn't convey ennui, but instead makes you bored.

At first, I was very happy with Saint Laurent. It's stylish, its direction is both lonely and glamorous, and you don't have to be a fashionista to be intrigued by it. Some montages look like their out of fashion catalogues.

It's nice to look at--it isn't Oscar-worthy in its aesthetics or anything, but it is stylish. After that, you realize that you're going to end up watching would could more or less pass for the same movie three times.

Our protagonist is aloof, loves fashion, and does a lot of drugs. That's about it. The film gives a little bit of his childhood later on, but by then, it's too little, too late. Now these complaints are coming from someone who thought that The Bling Ring was one of the best films of 2013.

So what's the main reason that I don't love Saint Laurent? It's because it's literally twice as long as it has to be. At 150 minutes, this film requires a hefty amount of substance or characterization that could withstand analysis, but this does not have either of those things.

It's the same issues that I had with Mr. Turner, but far more noticeable. This film doesn't have the subtleties of Timothy Spall's amazing performance in that film. Gaspard Ulliel (AKA French Andrew Garfield) does a solid job as Yves Saint Laurent, but his performance isn't quite anything to write home about.

All of the characters surrounding him are expendable, so he doesn't have a massive amount to react to. In leu of character--or even detached character, which would have worked so well here--the film tries too hard with awkward visual storytelling.

(And again, to prove that I don't hate unorthodox films, my favorite film of all time is Under the Skin.) In the end, Saint Laurent is very disappointing, and on occasion, painfully boring to sit through.

Films like this are meant to make the viewer feel numb, not bored. Somewhere, for example, does a great job of this, again adding to the fact that this film just feels like a failed attempt at replicating Sofia Coppola's style.

I really hate to say these words, but I have to--the film comes off as self-indulgent and pretentious. This isn't worth your time, and also isn't "the story that's never been told before" as the poster says, given that another biopic of this same man came out within the last year.

I haven't seen that one, but it's probably more interesting than this. 4.2/10, bad, two thumbs down, far below average, etc.