The lights dim to black, the film previews go silent and the doyen of French haute couture designers Yves Saint Laurent takes the screen. You are instantaneously humbled by a fashion icon who poetically delivers his retirement speech about the ups and downs of his life, “false friendships of tranquilizers and drugs” while musing, “Every man needs aesthetic ghosts in order to live.”
Filmmaker Pierre Thoretton takes you on a tour of the fabled life of the genius of Yves Saint Laurent and his eye for beautiful artifacts, art and exotic retreats intimately shared with his business and lifelong partner of 52 years, Pierre Bergé in a new documentary entitled, “L‘Amour Fou.”
Pierre Bergé recounts the powerful influence of Yves Saint Laurent on twentieth century fashion beginning with the death of his mentor Christian Dior in 1957. At the age of 21, Yves Saint Laurent assumed control of the House of Dior and immediately developed a signature style that reshaped woman’s couture while saving Dior from financial ruin. Falling away from Dior in 1960, Yves Saint Laurent launched his pioneering vision with Pierre Berge and launched ground breaking designs that included: “Mondrian’ day dress in 1965, “Le Smoking,” classic tuxedo suit for women in 1966 and the first to create thigh high boots. Yves Saint Laurent’s concepts, drawings, runway shows and models are well-captured in the portfolio of photographic, moving and 8mm film snippets presented over 103 minutes on the big screen.
The thread that binds the documentary style of this film centers round the famed art collection amassed by both Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé including works by Brancusi, Modigliani, Picasso and Matisse. A dazzling display of creativity by the ancients, classics and modernists while underlined by the “genuine encounters” experienced between Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé up and to the famed 2009 Christie’s auction. Tours of their homes and retreats in France and Marrakesh reveal their eye for detail in the search for isolated paradise.
“L‘Amour Fou” is easy on the eyes, poetic and heavy on the heart leaving the viewer with feelings of emptiness as the sound of the Christie’s auction gavel reverberates for the last time. Careful steps exit without personal connection to the artifacts of a relationship shared over a lifetime. (Pictured above: Georges Braque (1882-1963), Fernand Leger (1881-1955), Theodore Gericault (1791-1824) with a total Christie’s Auction Total of 373,935,500 (EUR))
If you are creative minded, a life-long artist, or dedicated to your creative passion, this movie is for you. Sundance Films, NY Times Interview and LA Times review.