“We’re not doing a biopic, we’re doing a film” is a refrain in interviews of director Bertrand Bonello about his gorgeous, super-chichi “Saint Laurent.” The perfumed atmosphere concocted to capture a decade or so in the life of the seminal designer is simultaneously hectic and louche, moving in a hyperstylized swirl of texture and sensation, with time jumps, multiple actors playing Laurent, split screens. The split-screens are a nod to Mondrian, Bonello has said, who inspired early work by St. Laurent. The grandiose two-and-a-half-hour running time is earned, especially in its confident re-creation of artistic certitude: the film knows this man knew what he wanted to create. With Gaspard Ulliel, Jeremie Renier, Louis Garrel, Lea Seydoux, Amira Casar, Helmut Berger, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Dominique Sanda. 150m. (Ray Pride)
“Saint Laurent” opens Friday, May 29. The U. S. trailer is below.
Ray Pride is Newcity’s Senior Editor and Film Critic. He is a contributing editor of Filmmaker magazine.
Ray’s history of Chicago Ghost Signs is planned for publication next year. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram. More photography on Instagram.
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