For those bleating about the evils of so-called “cancel culture,” the career of British fashion designer John Galliano is a useful counterpoint. Sacked as creative director of Christian Dior in 2011 after a horrific incident of anti-Semitic abuse, he spent two years in the wilderness before being hired by Oscar de la Renta and later Maison Margiela, where he was for a decade. A-listers still wear her dresses on red carpets. Life goes on. Kevin Macdonald’s documentary High and Low: John Galliano (Streaming on Mubi from April 26) chronicles the rise, fall and rise of Galliano with a more detached, critical eye than you might expect from a film co-produced by Galliano. Vogue publisher Condé Nast. The distinctive design sensibility is admirable, but there is a sharp examination of the personal flaws made possible by an unruly and permissive industry.
The rag trade, with its silliness and capacity for bad behavior, has always been a great movie subject: the clothes provide the visual dazzle, while the makeshift business of it all provides the drama. Macdonald’s film is the latest in a series of quality fashion documentaries recently completed: the fascinating work of Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui. McQueen He told the much more tragic story of Alexander McQueen, the unfortunate child of the industry, with a formal flourish that matched his over-the-top aesthetic and a humane approach to his demons. Frédéric Tcheng Dior’s and me Designer Raf Simons’ superb overview of his first season for the venerable French fashion house isn’t weighed down by pathos, but his detailing of the creative process is intriguing. The same filmmaker also HalstonIt’s a shrewdly framed but compelling portrait of the disco-era American designer, who went from ubiquitous taste to a sell-out since his AIDS-related death in 1990.
Robert Altman’s surprisingly leaden Prêt-à-Porter fails to beat its own absurd game
The French have an interesting habit of making biographies of the most famous fashion icons in almost simultaneous pairs: in 2009, there were two Coco Chanel dramas, led by Audrey Tautou, in which she played a serious role. Coco Before Chanel imaginatively imagined, focused more on the study of the subject than highly romantic Coco Chanel and Igor StravinskyStarring the smoldering Mads Mikkelsen as Chanel’s alleged equally famous lover. Five years later the same thing happened again. With Pierre Niney’s César-winning lead performance, Yves Saint Laurent It gave a masterful summary of the queer innovator’s career and notable relationships, but a brighter, more extravagant summary of Bertrand Bonello emerged a few months later. saint laurent this captured his wild sensual energy. It’s strange then that the latter isn’t available for release in the UK, although the DVD is worth buying. All four films feature homages to the clothing you’d expect from French filmmakers. Of course, Ridley Scott didn’t seem to care much about the couture aspect of his rather gray handsome biopic. House of Gucci; What the movie loves is the killer melodrama behind the label.
It’s a difficult industry to satirize. A permanent crowd-pleaser, Devil Wears Prada it doesn’t exaggerate the cruelty of the fashion magazine world, but it subtly voices its high-minded protagonist’s over-all disdain for the entire industry – before trying to have it both ways, at least emotionally. Robert Altman delivers a wildly busy but surprisingly tough character, despite the surprising all-star cast. P.R.meat-à-Porter He couldn’t beat the business at its own ridiculous game, but Ben Stiller beat the lovable goofy male model. zoolander I got the balance right between willful stupidity and recognizable truth. In contrast, the musical that Gershwin scored was bright as candy. Funny Face Starting with the initially outrageous positioning of Audrey Hepburn as a bookish braggart, it delivers pure, delicious wish-fulfillment fantasy in its portrait of high-fashion modeling.
Nicolas Winding Refn underestimated Neon Demon It cleverly took the extremes and physical demands of catwalk modeling as the basis for some truly grotesque body horror. A very different kind of horror movie by Olivier Assayas personal shopping used the cool, aloof nature of the celebrity styling business as the perfect backdrop for a stylish and icy ghost story; the clothes allowed Kristen Stewart’s haunted heroine to occasionally escape out of the body. Meanwhile Disney’s prequel Cruel It gave the leather-smuggling villain a fitting backstory by turning him into a vampy fashion maven: it’s not dark enough, but the dresses are gorgeous.
For sheer divadom, she can’t beat Daniel Day-Lewis’ hilariously fastidious couturier in mid-century London in Paul Thomas Anderson’s unhinged romantic drama. Ghost ThreadOne of the great films about the muse-artist struggle. The strange Diana Ross vehicle of 1975 MahoganyMeanwhile, it proves how difficult it is to create a completely sympathetic hero from a fashion designer: Ross’s eponymous hero swaggers his way to the top, weeps and cries, but our eyes only see his incredible caftans.
All books are widely available for rent or purchase unless noted.
Also new on streaming and DVD this week
Last summer
(BFI Actor)
Strangely skipping cinemas and being released exclusively on the BFI Player, master French provocateur Catherine Breillat’s first film in a decade was one of the real bad tastes of last year’s Cannes festival. Remake and improvement of the 2019 Danish film queen of heartsThe film stars the magnificent Léa Drucker as a wealthy, middle-aged lawyer whose family and social status are endangered by a reckless affair with her teenage stepson. What sounds tabloid-scary turns out to be a harsh, gritty, and very funny examination of female sexuality and the social standards that bind it.
The Three Musketeers: Milady
(Apple TV+)
The French revival of the old Dumas epic remains, in its second part, a decidedly limiting play in old-school swashbuckling mode, untainted by sordid postmodern irony. Lavishly assembled and superbly constructed, it almost gives hope for an ongoing series.
Dreams of Akira Kurosawa
(Criteria Collection)
A typically sparkling Criterion Blu-ray release for this 1990 work by Kurosawa; an eccentric but sometimes seductive patchwork of eight short stories drawn from the then aged subconscious – including an encounter with Vincent van Gogh, played out in a cinephile dream-dream flourish. Written by Martin Scorsese.