Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Sissy Chou This movie is much better than I expected. I don't have much interest in haute couture, but I was gripped and the clothes whether on the catwalk or just in general were to die for. It's an awesome and skillfully made biopic that's really addictive and captures Yves Saint Laurent crazy life and pure genius as a self-destructive artist in a beautiful way. In a career spanning fifty years YSL changed women's fashion, but at the movie's core is Saint Laurent's emotional passion, and the dynamics of the love story between him and Bergé. Lets say there wasn't too much loyalty in the bedroom but the movie sure captures the story of the tortured genius and the partner who kept him on track.The movie is beautiful in every detail and the acting is exceptional throughout. Pierre Niney is outstanding as Laurent. He' s a freaking talented actor and I cannot believe that Yves himself would have been disappointed with the portrayal. His performance really made me feel for the guy. Guillaume Gallienne and Charlotte Le Bon are awesome too. I highly recommend this movie. There is something about French movies, even when they're not awesome, they're still great ☺

GrassRootsGuy This reminds me of flipping through a spiral bound photo album... nice pictures but what's going on... who are these people... what are they feeling... why... why... why... did he, or they, or she... Like Wikipedia we get some factual display of events but little interpretation. Great fashion shows and everyone, almost without exception, is beautiful. I must confess I fell asleep several times so maybe I missed some key elements.It may well be, in the style of French movies, that clues lurk, waiting for discovery on the third or fourth viewing, but first time around I left wondering, unsatisfied with many questions. I got a good sense for what things looked like, but little understanding.

lucasnochez Becoming a trend-setter in the fashion industry can be quite the challenge, but making a fashion movie with some cinematic and historical merit is the real challenge many have been willing to accept, and have failed miserably. Even though there are so many irreplaceable names within fashion with such interesting stories to tell (Dior, Arden, Versace, Ford, Varvatos, Gucci and Chanel to name a few), director Jalil Lespert chooses Yves Saint Laurent; one of the few fashion icons to have his pieces of high fashion and considerably iconic art pieces displayed in museums and prestigious art galleries around the world. Yet, with Yves Saint Laurent, we aren't quite sure if that is simply enough for a biopic of this stature.Lacking any real panache and coming undone at the poorly constructed narrative seams, Yves Saint Laurent becomes a retro-fitted cinematic mess that, similar to many of Luarent's pieces, is more fun to look at than to wear, or in this case, follow narratively. Yves Saint Laurent depicts the tormented life of a genius, torn apart by the luxuries of high living and fame at too young an age. While Laurent could never possibly be taken away from being a visionary, his newest film by veteran French actor Jalil Lespert focuses more on its grainy, melancholic exterior than it does with coherently telling the story of one of the most revolutionary haute couture designers of the mid-1900's.One of Lespert's greatest facilitators of telling Laurent's story is sex, and his story begins at the tender age of a twenty-one when Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent (Pierre Niney) was simply the assistant to Christian Dior. Lespert's film is a daunting task of understanding the ambiguity of silence and the mixed feelings of Laurent, who makes advances to his female friend and model Victoire Doutreleau (Charlotte Le Bon), yet exchanges undressing glares to his Algerian male gardener–this introduction of the film really throws audiences off. Thankfully, the slight glimmer of brilliance that is Lespert's film is understood fully once it is revealed that Laurent is a homosexual, and falls in love with Pierre Bergé (Guillaume Gallienne) in a seamlessly idyllic visit to a friend's Northern villa. Although Laurent's marriage to Bergé is never seen on film, rather, the tyrannical disputes of power within Laurent's fashion empire and the constant sexual espionage between the couple is used to replace some of the fluffy, real life moments between the couple, the real life Bergé applauded the film for being a rather authentic look of the life of he and his questionable true love. It's too bad Lespert's film is ruined with an annoying voice-over narration that reveals the film as B-grade cinema rather than stuffy, fine-French cinema couture.Lespert is keen on making it clear that, Laurent had always led a privileged life, despite the horrors occurring in Oran, French Algeria (his birthplace) at the time of the late 1950's, and his family's move away from Algeria at the time and into France. Villa to villa, despite Laurent's apparent talent for fashion and designing, it shows just how much luck (good and bad), and being at the right place at the right time gave Laurent the opportunity to head the House of Dior, following Dior's sudden death at the age of fifty-two. But, the impact of the Algerian War of Independence doesn't stop there as it sucks Laurent back in when he is conscripted to join the French Army. Despite being the head of the House of Dior, Laurent enlists, only to be subjected to wide variety of medical tests that lead to illness, with tortuous means of remedy and an expulsion as Head Designer and a chance to head his own fashion house in the early 1960's, YSL.One of Yves Saint Laurent's strengths as a film is showing the relationship between our self titled character and giving audiences a glimpse into the complicated life that he and his life partner, Bergé, really had. The heart of the film is seen between Niney and Gallienne, who give great insight on the chemistry between the great minds of such a powerful fashion brand and the inner workings of business geniuses, but a poorly matched couple. While watching the film, I couldn't help but notice how tasteful and well-constructed the scenes and relationship between Bergé and Laurent is highlighted, while earlier films this year, specifically the narratively crippled James Brown biopic Get On Up hardly gives justice to the complex inner workings of the business partnership and friendship between James Brown and notoriously anonymous Bobby Byrd.I have to admit, up until the film introduces Laurent's muse Loulou de la Falaise, played by Laura Smet, I was confused, as I knew that Léa Seydoux (Blue is the Warmest Color) strolled the red carpet in Cannes earlier this year for her role as the infamous muse. Once I was out of the theatre and was able to check my smart phone, it became clear that indeed, Seydoux did play de la Falaise, but not in this Laurent film. Saint Laurent, the other Yves Saint Laurent film made this year, who made its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, will surely be a daunting competition for this film, seeing as it was embraced and accepted into the highest class film festival, while this Laurent film may very well be the department store version of the Laurent story.

Friska The movie starts with the young Yves Saint Laurent, sitting on his small desk and sketching. The whole story-line is being told by his long-term partner and only lover, Pierre Berge. What I like about this movie, in my humble opinion, is that it takes you, step by step, throughout the time-line of the events, labelling every major event with the year it has happened in. That helped in saving the troubles of loosing contact throughout the film, by keeping you on track with the dates, like the date of the "Le Smoking" collection which was in 1967; it was written on the screen in order to clarify when that major event happened. The movie describes precisely what happened in the artist's life, whether on the runway or backstage and during the creations of the magnificent masterpieces that he created. The film is very clear and has shown no difference nor editing to the true story, and all of the cast played their right parts in a great way, specially Pierre Niney's performance that deserves a stand in ovation, chapeau! They did their researches and reached whoever they could reach in order to gather as much information about the deceased legend, and it did pay off. Niney took sketching, vocal, and drawing classes for this role. They even used original pieces from Yves's collections -which exceeds 8,000 pieces, and with the generous help of Monsieur Berge and other people who have personally worked with Monsieur Laurent, they've put everything in its right place. The music matched the film perfectly and set the ambiance in the right way, and Ibrahim Maalouf did a great job when choosing the Jazz/Blues genres for the songs and music composed, whether made originally for the biopic, or carefully chosen to match the themes of the film. It is a remarkable touch what Jalil Lespert made when ending the movie as the much older Yves is -as the beginning of the film, seated on a small desk and sketching, but this time, accompanied with his beloved partner Pierre Berge.The movie is not at all a "gay story", it is a very touching story of a man who was an artist, a genius, a lover of life and beauty. A man who was very shy and fragile that he only found strength in what he did and in how Pierre loved him. Very inspirational that story is, sad, but very life changing. The film clearly showed all the sides of Yves' life, even gave a glimpse about his childhood, and how he was constantly bullied in school. If you are not much of a reader-type, and you like watching more than reading, then this biopic is the right one for you; it will give you the required information you need about that Fashion-God, maybe a bit more than you need, but you will sure be satisfied and fulfilled. Yves Saint Laurent: a film that shan't be missed. It is the least that could be done to a man who saw women as masterpieces of art and did his best, and much more, to make the world see them that way as well.