Ridley Scott's House of Gucci has now hit theatres around the globe and after those
great trailers, I went into the director's latest film not knowing what to expect.
I'd seen a few reviews saying it was fantastic while
others critiqued its runtime, a bizarre performance by Jared Leto and the film being quite bland.
To be honest, I didn't really know the full events of the Gucci story, but having
now seen the film, I had a hell of a time.
In fact, it's probably my second favourite film of the year behind Denis Villeneuve's
Dune.
Was it long, yes, was Jared Leto's performance quite bizarre in points, yes and was is it
a bland telling, absolutely not.
I think this film is not afraid to be what it
is supposed to be, a telling of tragedy in three acts that we have seen before, but not
as campy nor focused as Ridley Scott portrays it onscreen.
It's definitely going to be one of the most meme-able movies of the year
but it will also move you emotionally and grip you with mostly excellent performances
across the board.
Before I get into my spoiler-free review of House of Gucci, if you want to see much more
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But without further ado, let's dive into my spoiler-free review for
Ridley Scott's House of Gucci.
Now while this isn't Ridley Scott's best film it's one that completely surprised me.
With the current landscape of entertainment feeding even more into cinematic fatigue,
a movie like House of Gucci that intelligently
merges the glamour, twisty drama and top fashion is a drink I'd personally want to taste all
night.
The whole thing is built on the chemistry of Gucci's prime characters
and the relationships within that, giving us a lot of dialogue, but that which is mostly
integral from a drama standpoint, where this story leads and what the characters
are dealing with.
It leaves you gasping at times while also laughing pretty loud in other moments.
And this is all driven by Adam Driver and Lady Gaga who share a chemistry
that’s rare and definitely not contrived.
The complete potency and lunacy of their relationship is from what I've read portrayed
pretty accurately in Scott's film.
Lady Gaga Plays Patrizia Reggiani, who starts off as a secretary for her father's garbage
truck business, and later meets Adam Driver's Maurizio Gucci at a party, who she sees as
an opportunity, not fully from a financial side, but mainly a personal level up.
It's part love and part chance for her in the
beginning, but a romance which will soon quite obviously fall off the rails and lead to all
kinds of drama.
But she initially sees it as a chance for her to live a life of
reason, which is quite related to Maurizio but from the opposite standpoint.
Adam Driver's character is not interested in the business of high fashion, keeping his
distance from father Rodolfo, played by Jeremy Irons and
Uncle Aldo, played by Al Pacino.
But once Patrizia dips her paws into him and they eventually get married, the structure
of the family is rebuilt and given new life.
What we witness is the honed intelligence and climb of Patrizia, who uses the conflict
of the family business, in particular with the clownish
example of cousin Paolo Gucci, played by Jared Leto, to move things to her side of the aisle.
But when this doesn't eventually go her way, this is when crime becomes infused
into the high drama and is the only final option that she believes she can take.
It's a three arc take on built romance, growth and then finally deconstruction, interweaved
perfectly by Ridley Scott in a cocktail of darkness, humour and everything in between.
By while there are huge figures at play in this story and the performances help bring
them across in such a strong way, the central frame that keeps everything together in
Ridley Scott’s film isn’t Patrizia, Maurizio or any individual Gucci, it's the entirety
of Gucci as a fashion business empire.
It's named House of Gucci for a reason, showcasing the problems when perceived freedom meets
control when strength creates perceived peace, and every character doing what they must to
obtain it.
Yes, there's battle and corruption at play but what makes House of
Gucci investing is the entire group of players at the table.
A scene in the film which is one of my favourites of the year
demonstrates this when Gaga's character claims that Maurizio is a monster and he replies
by saying, I'm a Gucci.
This all comes from the family's structure that is unwrapped
in front of us showing a wealthy club, stuffed with egotism and superiority, only to be brought
down by a woman who only wanted a part of power, equally submerging into
wrongdoings.
Everyone is leading to destruction here and Scott displays this quite brilliantly through
a great mix of performances.
From the elegant yet brutal sense of power that Lady Gaga aims at achieving to the classic
format of superiority from Al Pacino, and the absolute madness from Jared Leto.
I must say Leto's performance is quite bizarre because I found myself at times perplexed
by his portrayal, but then in other moments, I realised that this is who he is supposed
to be.
An eccentric artist used by the drives of Gaga in getting her piece of power.
It’s definitely not a masterpiece, but it's a great example of bringing everything into
one package to mostly successful results.
House of Gucci is a lush yet disturbing story of how
this fashion tower collapsed to the ground.
What must be acknowledged even if you are mixed on the film, is that there is an extreme
commitment by the filmmaker through the Italian culture and history of Gucci to bring a film
that is full of character depth moving past the one-dimensional approach we get in
quite a lot of films today.
We approach Patrizia being devalued from multiple angles, we witness the sometimes tense conversations
that situate around a father’s rejection of his son, and we get the tears yet hope
from the fool that is Aldo.
Each character is layered and if there's any criticism, it's that the film doesn't have
many moments of restraining this balls to the wall approach.
But quite frankly, that's something I really appreciate.
Yes, it's a long film, but once characters have been introduced and settled within the
narrative, the fun and chaos begins to unravel.
There's company debates and backstabbing but the drive comes through tugging over the
future that the brand of Gucci should embark on.
Should it stay in the hands of the elder family man or try to branch out and be
better competition to global brands.
The question asked is whether the future thinking members can sustain their brand while keeping
what they are.
The question is very intriguing, but as we know in tales like this,
tragedy always waits at the end of the tunnel.
It reminded me of Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street in the way it was structured,
casting a foreboding gloom over the rich, who can't escape what's coming.
We end up with a Scott film that is a modern tragedy, dipped in inspiration from the work
of Francis Ford Coppola, Scorsese and other great
artists.
He's regathering the sense of the cautionary story and the search for paradise at the same
time.
Overall, House of Gucci is a movie with bits of everything, top costume
design, framing and sets to stellar performances and a fascinating story that will be remembered,
even if it isn't his best work.
He may be up and down from film to film, but it's films like House of Gucci that reframe
why Ridley Scott is one of our greatest living filmmakers, who hasn't quite lost his way
just yet.
But that was my spoiler-free review for House of Gucci.
Ridley Scott's film may have a long run time of over 2 and a half hours, but it's a film
that isn't shy at going fully into the full story of the Gucci's and giving
us a structured tale of everything that happened.
You have the opening act of romance as Patrizia meets Maurizio, the second act of
how the Gucci empire comes out of the fire through Patrizia’s new way of thinking,
and then a final act of the love and empire coming together, resulting in the fall for
every person involved.
Of course, each character has a different outcome in the events, but Gaga's character
is the one who is convicted because of her not wanting to move on.
Her eventual decision to cause crime is not one of desire, but pure selfishness.
It's a sense that nobody can have what she cannot have.
Gaga’s and many other actors here have fantastic transformations, primed to display
the traits of the characters who descend into tragedy.
It's a true telling of how power and wanting something out of reach can possess
someone into never wanting to let go.
Quite honestly, I think after A Star Is Born and now House Of Gucci, Lady Gaga is really
making a name for herself in acting and after this performance, I can see her getting another
Oscar nomination next year.
Some rockstars can make one great performance then drop but Gaga is proving how good of
an actress she is as she puts her all into capturing
the madness, emotion and drama that this character needed to display.
It will be interesting to see how the audience reacts to this,
and while it's not my favourite Ridley Scott's film by any imagination it's one that I walked
out incredibly surprised by.
It had strong performances, both reserved and
exaggerated, a well paced story, long but intriguing and a clear message towards the
possession of power.
I was really impressed by it and although it calls back to things seen
in the films of Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott has put his stamp on
this crime drama and has done it in style.
I'm giving House Of Gucci a rating of 8.75 out of 10.
But what did you think of Ridley Scott's latest film and do you agree that it's one of the
best films of the year.
I think it's one that is going to create a mix of
opinions as we've seen thus far with the critics because it's not the kind of movie for everyone.
But for me, this sits firmly in the middle of Ridley Scott's filmography and I
think it was a great blend of humour, drama, crime and the bizarre nature of the Gucci
brand.
Again, it's all subjective and I appreciate a range of reactions and reviews, so
let me know down below in the comments section what you personally thought towards the film
alongside where you would place it with the other films in Ridley Scott's extended
filmography.
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