Saint Laurent

One of two recent cinematic biographies about French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, who died in 2008, filmmaker Bertrand Bonello's Saint Laurent begins in Paris, circa 1974, when depressed, melancholy Saint Laurent (Gaspard Ulliel) admits during a disastrous phone interview that he has “disorders,” before flashing back to 1967, when his haute couture fame was at its height and he would begin working with supportive muses Loulou del la Falaise (Léa Seydoux) and Betty Catroux (Aymeline Valade). Saint Laurent's intoxicating celebrity lifestyle quickly disintegrated into debilitating drug abuse and debauchery, particularly in his infatuation with Karl Lagerfeld model Jacques de Bascher (Louis Garrel), which deeply wounded Saint Laurent's longtime business partner, lover, and friend Pierre Bergé (Jérémie Renier). Wearing the designer's signature oversized glasses, Ulliel not only bears a strong physical resemblance but also conveys Saint Laurent's self-destructive tendencies, along with his hedonistic sensibility and neurotic sensitivity. The film details how Saint Laurent became the first major designer to launch a prêt-à-porter line (making French fashion accessible to the general public), but—curiously—there is little mention of Saint Laurent's youth in Algeria or his apprenticeship with Christian Dior. Episodic in structure, this long film ultimately feels hollow and ill-fitting, not to mention truly tedious (unless you're a fashion junkie). Optional. [Note: Blu-ray extras include a segment on “The Characters” (3 min.), an interview with director Bertrand Bonello (2 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a small extras package for a disappointing fashion biography.] (S. Granger)