The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz
The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz |
| Cannes biopic probes Yves Saint Laurent dark side Posted: 17 May 2014 06:26 AM PDT The high priest of fashion who pioneered tuxedos for women and ready-to-wear is shown cruising for sex, taking cocaine and pills and indulging in casual cruelty to women in Bertrand Bonello's film "Saint Laurent". The Yves Saint Laurent that emerges is far darker than the character presented by a rival biopic released earlier this year that won the support of Saint Laurent's romantic and business partner Pierre Berge. Producer Eric Altmayer said the news that director Jalil Lespert was also making a movie about the designer had come as a surprise. Unlike their film, Lespert's received the "firm support" of Berge who repeatedly and publicly demonstrated his approval. But he said the emergence of a second film ultimately had a liberating effect on the production, allowing them to avoid the usual constraints of the traditional biopic. "We had access to absolutely nothing, not even a shirt," he told reporters. "We rented these costumes from a collector, all the dresses you see... had to be recreated. We built a studio with all the seamstresses... it was a tremendous investment in terms of time and effort," he said. Saint Laurent, who died aged 71 in 2008, is regarded as one of the most influential designers in fashion history. His creations such as the trapeze dress and the female tuxedo or Le Smoking became instant classics and largely shaped the way women dress today, according to fashion historians. French actor Gaspard Ulliel donned Saint Laurent's trademark horn-rimmed glasses and bouffant, helmet-like hairstyle for the film which starts at the height of the designer's depression in 1974. "Yves was born a depressive almost. He had suffered from depression from adolescence at least," Ulliel said in production notes. "His homosexuality also exposed him to mockery and hasty judgements, as did his fragility and slenderness. Part of his success undoubtedly comes from taking revenge on the hand life had dealt him," he added. Bonello's non-linear film, largely concentrating on a few episodes between 1967 and 1976, vividly conjures up the hedonistic pre-AIDS days of the early 1970s. There are gay sex parties and drinking and drug-taking in nightclubs with muses Betty Catroux and Loulou de la Falaise played by newcomer Aymeline Valade and "Blue is the Warmest Colour" star Lea Seydoux respectively. Bonello said he did not set out to make a traditional biopic that showed how "Saint Laurent became Saint Laurent". Instead, he said, he tried to show "what it costs him to be Saint Laurent... having to deliver four collections a year, being a star", he added in the notes. Critics were largely unimpressed, albeit more complimentary than they were about its "bland" rival. "(The film) while seductively silly and largely unmoving, does a better job than its predecessor of celebrating Saint Laurent's flamboyant artistry," said entertainment magazine Variety. "Bonello's sexier number must gamble on sustained audience interest in a chilly figure whose life – notwithstanding the drugs, desires and debauchery that go with the high-fashion terrain – wasn't extraordinarily dramatic." The Hollywood Reporter said the screenplay rarely managed to "get inside the head of the self-destructive character the designer had become by the 1970s". The film was 47 minutes longer than its rival "though to no apparent benefit," it added. "Saint Laurent" is one of 18 films in competition for the top Palme d'Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival. – AFP, May 17, 2014 |
| Big laughs at Cannes for Almodovar-produced ‘Wild Tales’ Posted: 17 May 2014 06:09 AM PDT One of 18 contenders in competition at the world's biggest film festival, the movie by 38-year-old Damian Szifron plays out in six absurdly violent episodes. It starts off with a striking brunette making her way onto a plane, where she takes her seat next to a distinguished music critic who soon chats her up. In conversation they realise they know the same man, her ex Gabriel Pasternak, whom the the critic gave a career-killing review for a composition years before. It is soon revealed that all the passengers on the flight had wronged Pasternak at some stage in their lives, and received their plane tickets under mysterious circumstances. And just guess who has locked himself in the cockpit, aiming the jet at his parents' home. 'Dog in a cage' The scene ahead of the opening credits sparked spontaneous applause from the crowd during a press preview, settling the tone for a rollicking two hours of similar, unconnected vignettes. A cheating lover, a corrupt towing company, a brute overcome by road rage and a parasitic loan shark get their comeuppance in a bitingly funny satire that marked a welcome break from the rigorous dramas that make up much of the Cannes programme. But the film also serves up powerful portrayals of mad-as-hell people pushed to the breaking point by a drip, drip, drip of corruption, injustices and inequality, leading them to abandon social niceties and finally explode. Szifron, a descendant of Poles who escaped the Nazis during World War II, wrote and directed the award-winning television series "Los Simuladores" and is currently working on an English-language Western. He said he thought the themes of frustrated people trying to keep it together carried far beyond Argentines' particular problems. "I think the Western capitalist world in particular... distorts people's true nature a great deal. A dog that is poorly fed and stuck in a cage is a bit like us, it gets overwhelmed," he told reporters. "You can see all these people who work in offices, who put on a suit every morning and suffer from tremendous pressure: mobile phones, they are constantly subjected to these ads, encouraged to buy this or that which they may or may not need. I think that people live very stressful lives." Almodovar, the Oscar-winning Spanish director behind "Women on the Verge of Nervous Breakdown", "Volver" and "Talk to Her", was in town for the red-carpet premiere. His brother Augustin told reporters the comic timing and self-assured style of Szifron's previous work had led them to back the film. Critics gave what had been a "wild card" in the festival's competition high marks. Chris Knight of Canada's National Post tweeted that he had "never laughed more at Cannes than" during "Wild Tales": "If it wins, the Palme d'Or has a sense of humour." BuzzFeed critic Alison Willmore called it "a terrific surprise – kinetic, darkly funny, much fun". And British film magazine Screen Daily hailed it as an "innovative and increasingly scathing social comedy" that was "brilliantly conceived and confidently delivered". The Palme d'Or will be presented by the Cannes jury president, New Zealand director Jane Campion, on May 24. – AFP, May 17, 2014 |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider : Showbiz To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan