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Saint Laurent (film)

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Not to be confused with Yves Saint Laurent (film).

Saint Laurent
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBertrand Bonello
Written by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJosée Deshaies
Edited byFabrice Rouaud
Music byBertrand Bonello
Production
companies
Distributed byEuropaCorp Distribution
Release dates
  • 17 May 2014 (2014-05-17) (Cannes)
  • 24 September 2014 (2014-09-24) (France)
Running time
150 minutes[1]
CountryFrance
Languages
  • French
  • English
Budget€8.7 million[2]
Box office$2.4 million[2]

Saint Laurent is a 2014 French biographical drama film co-written and directed by Bertrand Bonello, and starring Gaspard Ulliel as Yves Saint Laurent, Jérémie Renier as Pierre Bergé, and Louis Garrel as Jacques de Bascher. The supporting cast features Léa Seydoux, Amira Casar, Aymeline Valade, and Helmut Berger.[3][4] The film centers on Saint Laurent's life from 1967 to 1976, during which time the famed fashion designer was at the peak of his career.[5] The film competed for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival[6] and was released in France on 24 September 2014.[5]

It was selected as the French entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.[7] In January 2015, Saint Laurent received ten nominations at the 40th César Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor.[8] It also received five nominations at the 20th Lumières Awards, winning Best Actor for Gaspard Ulliel.[9][10]

Plot

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The film tells the story of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent at the peak of his career between 1967 and 1976. The film starts with Saint Laurent alone and depressed in a hotel room apparently after a night of partying in Paris nightclubs. He is placing a call to a newspaper journalist to grant a tell-all interview which he had previously declined.

In the mid-1960s, Saint Laurent emerges as a leading voice in French fashion. His business begins to flourish and grow internationally. Less well known about his private life is his love of the Paris nightlife, and the clubs and homes of the rich and avant-garde. Saint Laurent enjoys the nightlife and the endless hours of champagne, pot, and drugs which seem to surround him at every turn. During one evening, he sees an attractive model, Betty Catroux, at a nightclub and approaches her about becoming a model for his fashion house. She turns him down saying that she is under contract with Chanel. Saint Laurent is persistent and keeps repeating his requests, while continuing to flatter her good looks. As the evening progresses, the two begin dancing together on the discotheque floor, and then start to mingle having drinks together. Later that week, Betty is seen in Saint Laurent's studio modeling his new designs for him while he creates his new fashions, and Saint Laurent celebrates having recruited one of Chanel's top model for his own fashion house.

Saint Laurent's success continues and he forms a long-term same-sex relationship with his business manager, Pierre Bergé, which is profitable to both men financially and in their personal emotional lives. Saint Laurent's use of alcohol and drugs seems to continue and to grow along with his international success as a fashion designer. On one night out of partying, a young male operative named Jacques de Bascher spies out Saint Laurent and approaches him with plainly presented romantic and sexual intentions. Saint Laurent is captivated by his good looks and the two begin an intensely explicit affair. Their preferred mutual habits of enjoying the Paris nightlife and drug use seem to spiral them out of control into a tumultuous relationship. Saint Laurent's long-term affair with Pierre at this fashion house in put on hold as Saint Laurent continues his new romantic affair with Jacques.

When Saint Laurent wakes up one morning in his hotel room, seemingly alone and dejected, he calls the newspaper journalist whom he had previously declined to interview with, and now present his own sensational tell-all version of his sexual proclivities and his penchant for the Paris nightlife. When his office and Pierre later learn that the newspaper is planning to proceed with the tell-all interview, they react harshly and threaten legal action for defamation and libel against the newspaper if they go ahead with publication. They state that the telephone interview was a prank by someone unknown to Saint Laurent and that printing the interview would only cause the newspaper embarrassment to their own reputation as journalists, as well as years in court defending themselves against a costly lawsuit for libel.

The film moves forward in time, showing Saint Laurent in old age living in his opulent Paris apartments surrounded by fine art and expensive fetishist possessions in his collection of exotic leopard skins and other wildlife shown on display throughout his flat. Saint Laurent dies in old age having become one of the most accomplished Paris fashion designers of the 20th century.

Cast

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Production

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Principal photography began on 30 September 2013 in Paris and Marrakesh.[11]

Release

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Bertrand Bonello, Gaspard Ulliel, and Jérémie Renier promoting the film at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival

The film was originally scheduled to be released in France on 14 May 2014. In January 2014, the release was pushed back to 1 October 2014.[12] The release date was later changed to 24 September 2014.[5]

In May 2014, Sony Pictures Classics acquired the North American rights at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, where the film premiered in competition.[6][13] The film was also screened at the 52nd New York Film Festival in September 2014.[14]

In May 2015, the film opened in four theaters in New York City and Los Angeles to a $36,136 opening weekend.[15]

Reception

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Critical response

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On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 63% based on 86 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "A well-intentioned but frustratingly diffuse biopic, Saint Laurent proves an ironically poor fit for a look at the life of a fashion icon."[16] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 52 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[17]

Susan Wloszczyna of RogerEbert.com gave the film 2.5 out of 4 stars, writing, "If you come away remembering anything from this 150-minute movie as it overstays its welcome, it will be individual scenes rather than the overall effect, for that is where Bonello shines."[18] A. O. Scott of The New York Times described it as "a compulsively detailed swirl of moods and impressions, intent on capturing the contradictions of the man and his times."[19]

Accolades

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Award Category Recipient(s) Result Ref(s)
Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or Saint Laurent Nominated
César Awards Best Film Saint Laurent Nominated [20]
Best Director Bertrand Bonello Nominated
Best Actor Gaspard Ulliel Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Louis Garrel Nominated
Jérémie Renier Nominated
Best Production Design Katia Wyszkop Nominated
Best Sound Nicolas Cantin, Nicolas Moreau, Jean-Pierre Laforce Nominated
Best Cinematography Josée Deshaies Nominated
Best Editing Fabrice Rouaud Nominated
Best Costume Design Anaïs Romand Won
Globes de Cristal Award Best Actor Gaspard Ulliel Nominated
Louis Delluc Prize Best Film Saint Laurent Nominated
Lumières Awards Best Film Saint Laurent Nominated
Best Director Bertrand Bonello Nominated
Best Actor Gaspard Ulliel Won
Best Screenplay Thomas Bidegain and Bertrand Bonello Nominated
Best Cinematography Josée Deshaies Nominated
Magritte Awards Best Supporting Actor Jérémie Renier Won
Satellite Awards Best Costume Design Anaïs Romand Nominated
International Cinephile Society Awards Best Actor Gaspard Ulliel Won
Best Supporting Actor Helmut Berger Nominated
Best Production Design Katia Wyszkop Nominated

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Saint Laurent". Cannes Film Festival. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  2. ^ a b JP Box Office
  3. ^ Diderich, Joelle (10 January 2014). "Yves Saint Laurent Biopic Wins Pierre Bergé's Approval". Women's Wear Daily. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  4. ^ "Saint Laurent de Bertrand Bonello". Unifrance. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  5. ^ a b c Moussou, Khadija (4 July 2014). "" Saint Laurent " de Bertrand Bonello". Elle (in French). Archived from the original on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
  6. ^ a b "2014 Official Selection". Cannes Film Festival. 17 April 2014. Archived from the original on 26 May 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  7. ^ Richford, Rhonda (22 September 2014). "Oscars: France Selects 'Saint Laurent' for Foreign-Language Category". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  8. ^ "César 2015 : Saint Laurent, Les Combattants et Timbuktu en tête des nominations". AlloCiné (in French). 28 January 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  9. ^ "Les nominés 2015 (l'année 2014)" (in French). Académie des Lumières. Archived from the original on 4 February 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  10. ^ Keslassy, Elsa (2 February 2015). "'Timbuktu' Sweeps France's Lumieres Awards". Variety. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  11. ^ ""Saint Laurent" de Bertrand Bonello à Cannes?". AlloCiné (in French). 30 September 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  12. ^ "La sortie de "Saint Laurent" de Bertrand Bonello repoussée !". AlloCiné (in French). 8 January 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  13. ^ Keslassy, Elsa (14 May 2014). "CANNES: Sony Pictures Classics Nabs Bertrand Bonello's 'Saint-Laurent' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  14. ^ "NYFF52 Main Slate". Film at Lincoln Center. Archived from the original on 21 September 2014. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  15. ^ Brooks, Brian (10 May 2015). "'The Apu Trilogy,' 'I Am Big Bird,' 'Saint Laurent' Top Specialty Box Office Debuts". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  16. ^ "Saint Laurent". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  17. ^ "Saint Laurent". Metacritic. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  18. ^ Wloszczyna, Susan (8 May 2015). "Saint Laurent". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  19. ^ Scott, A. O. (8 May 2015). "Review: 'Saint Laurent,' Beautiful People, High Fashion and Career at Its Pinnacle". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 25 January 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  20. ^ Richford, Rhonda (20 February 2015). "Cesar Awards: 'Timbktu' Sweeps, Kristen Stewart Makes History". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
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