Directed by Ridley Scott
Starring Adam Driver, Lady Gaga, Jeremy Irons, Al Pacino, Jared Leto
This new film recounting the story of Maurizio Gucci and his marriage to Patrizia Reggiani appears to be proof that Ridley Scott is more of a film factory than a filmmaker. Churning them out like they’re mass-produced products, House of Gucci in particular is unfortunately a very slight and fairly boring film, despite the talent behind it and the real life story it’s telling.
When Maurizio (Adam Driver) and Patrizia (Lady Gaga) fall in love and get married, they seem so happy together, as Patrizia assists and consults her husband with business dealings in his very lucrative family brand, Gucci. But things go sour when, egged on by tax evasion-style holidays, their relationship becomes wobbly, as does the family’s hold on their own company. As it goes in the fashion world, this sort of thing can only end with murder.
The film starts off average – average acting, average writing, average cinematography, average shot composition, average divulging of the average plot (the set design and costumes, on the other hand, are a bit more opulent). And this averageness remains so consistent throughout the film, it’s almost impressive – there are no particular dips in quality at any point, nor does the film elevate at all.
House of Gucci is concerned with its own lifeless plot, which is so mundane in how it deals with the ins and outs of family members having their connection to the brand reduced or flat-out removed. The film is quite repetitive in this regard, and when there’s actually something of interest for the film (the assassination plot), it’s squeezed into the last few moments.
It seems House of Gucci is actually more enamoured with its acting than the story, even though the acting isn’t much to praise. With ridiculous and inconsistent Italian accents, the cast don’t exactly make these characters seem real, but more like artificial versions of their real life persons. Jared Leto is just about the only actor to have this understanding and take his performance in a direction that’s at least enjoyable.
It’s amusing to see Scott’s disdain for audiences preferring superhero movies over his work, a genre he feels has less artistic and aesthetic value than his films. Complain about superhero movies all you want, but they are rarely more boring, even more non-existent than this ‘whatever’ film (as well as Scott’s other 2021 film, the even more incompetent and abysmal The Last Duel).
It’s likely that the new Spider-man film is a more artistic and deeper film than this, as House of Gucci seems to be just scraping the surface of its story. It’s understandable that such a brief story needs to be padded out, but for this film to be more than two and a half hours long, it makes it near unbearable. If there’s any film out at the moment that just feels like Hollywood actors playing dress-up, this is it.
DAVID MORGAN-BROWN
