House of Gucci
Adorned with sex and scandal, “Gucci” explores the infamous family without taking itself too seriously.
“House of Gucci” follows the highs and lows between Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver) and Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga) from their first meeting in an Italian nightclub in 1978. He’s no match against her quick wit and raw energy, but it’s fun watching him try to keep up with her.
Despite his father’s initial objections, the couple marries in a lavish ceremony. Maurizio is uninterested in the family business and plans a career in law. Still, Patrizia encourages her husband to engage more in the matters of Gucci, which his father and uncle control. It’s all champagne toasts and bubble dreams… for a while.
The couple rises in power, eventually becoming the driving force behind the Gucci brand. But it isn’t long before the seeds of destruction began to blossom.
Drunk with control and dependent on manipulation, the marriage starts to crumble. As Patrizia struggles to retain her interest in the fashion enterprise, Maurizio begins an affair, ultimately leading to the collapse of their dynasty and tumultuous demise.
Gaga is the real star of “Gucci,” igniting the screen and stealing the show. Who knows if her accent is Italian or Russian? Who cares? It’s impossible to take your eyes off her. She’s sex on heels, gliding frame by frame on brilliance and appeal.
Driver legitimizes Maurizio but doesn’t bring anything fresh to the audience we haven’t already seen from his past performances.
Channeling his inner Super Mario, Jared Leto plays Paolo Gucci, the company’s Vice President and designer of the famous double G logo. Unrecognizable under a myriad of prosthetics and fat layers, Leto manages to balance the character’s eccentrics with sincere vulnerability. It’s an amusing performance by Leto, who’s never afraid to alter his appearance for films: he lost 40 lbs. and waxed his body for “Dallas Buyers Club” and gained 70 lbs. to play David Mark Chapman in “Chapter 27.”
Al Pacino turns out a solid performance as the company’s chairman Aldo Gucci, a loveable character easy enough to support and appreciate.
And what would the story be without a medley of Blondie, Bowie, George Michael, and classical music serenading us through the fashion era of the ‘80s and ‘90s? The score frolics between the life and art of Gucci, abating the film’s darker moments.
Director Ridley Scott (“Alien,” “Blade Runner,” “Thelma & Louise,” “Gladiator,” “Black Hawk Down,” and “The Martian”) dials the story up in all the right places keeping “Gucci” free of the gimmick and full of sensation. Respectively he unveils the story’s tragedy and collapse in bite-size moments without drowning the biopic in historical context and detail.
A gift of fun, cheeky behind-the-scenes looks at one of the most famous families in the world, “House of Gucci” delivers a guilty pleasure ride of fashion and scandal just in time for the holiday season.
“House of Gucci” opens in theaters on November 24.