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Lady Gaga and Adam Driver star as Patrizia Reggiani and Maurizio Gucci in a dramatized story of their relationship. Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Salma Hayek, and a prosthetic-covered Jared Leto all play key roles. Patrizia married Maurizio and the film highlights her involvement in getting Maurizio into the struggling family business that is the Gucci fashion house. The brand was seen as old and dated in the 1980s and the film highlights the transition point when Tom Ford came in to take over the design.
Ridley Scott directed the film and decided to have all the characters have heavy, cartoonish Italian accents. I watched this film on a plane and it was an acceptable way to pass 2:38, if I was not a captive audience, I may have abandoned the film. The other most perplexing choice in the film was to avoid elaborate costumes. The film is about one of the biggest fashion houses in the world, yet there are shockingly few beautiful costumes. It could be an attempt to show how out of touch Gucci was at the time with the fashion world, or it could have been an oversight.
I watched McQueen, the Alexander McQueen documentary on another Atlantic crossing, and have seen a few episodes of Making the Cut, Project Runway, and multiple seasons of Ru Paul’s Drag Race. I have a general understanding of the fashion world and how the major Fashion Houses function today. This film may be from a by-gone era, but I wish it had more focus on what was going on inside and showed more collection debut shows. This might have helped with a lackluster story. Who knew an assassination could be so boring?
This film was widely panned, and I understand why. It is far too long for a straightforward plot. This is a pattern in film now and makes a stronger case to watch at home than sit in a theater for more than two uninterrupted hours. It lacks the costumes that should be present with Gucci in the title. The acting is fine, but the accents are obnoxious. Would I watch this film on a plane again? No, there were plenty of other better options I had not seen and some reliably enjoyable films I had.