Celebration

While filmed by director Olivier Meyrou in 1998, Celebration has waited for the better part of two decades for a formal release, earning minor notoriety as a forbidden peek at French haute-couture icon Yves Saint Laurent. Target audience (others need not apply) are those fascinated by fashion, as the overtly artsy, time-fractured verite narrative (sometimes going from B&W to color) shows sycophants, press, supermodels and fiercely protective guardian/life partner Pierre Bergé surrounding a seemingly withdrawn and rather doleful Saint Laurent in a late-career show, when he was keenly aware of being the lone living name-brand Paris designer still leading his own couture house. We see a little of Saint Laurent and his work habits. More time is spent with the veteran seamstresses, support staff (who at one point went on strike), and the ever-present and controlling Bergé. The inner-circle treats an oft-offscreen Saint Laurent with a reverence usually accorded an emperor or religious figure. Hardly as accessible as other rag-trade industry insider pieces such as Unzipped, Mademoiselle C, or The September Issue, the feature was still problematic enough for Pierre Bergé that he blocked its release until 2015 (Saint Laurent died in 2008). Collections may find it worth a look for the mystique surrounding the material and its hero but should not substitute it for a straightforward bio. Aud: P, C. (C. Cassady)