The fine film L'Amour Fou made in 2009 but just released yesterday in the U.S. is very French, so it's less a hard documentary and more a personal essay, an elegant and melancholy love letter from Pierre Bergé looking back on his fifty years with Yves Saint Laurent. Their early romance, Saint Laurent's replacing Christian Dior at age 21, being fired after his breakdown during military service in the Algerian War, their joint establishment of YSL's own couture house and subsequent triumphs are nicely sketched with archival clips. The film is framed around the dissembling and selling of their magnificent collection of art and objets, allowing Bergé in a series of interviews to reminisce about key moments in their lives, not omitting Saint Laurent's drinking, drugs, and depression. He says he saw Yves happy only two times a year, at the end of each couture collection, and it lasted not more than 24 hours.
To cheer themselves they had their art, their dog, their house and dazzling public gardens in Marrakech, and a newer chateau in Normandy where Saint Laurent decided to theme each room around a character from Proust. (When traveling, he always used the nom de hotel Swann.) The filmmakers shy away from saying what the men did for amour after their romantic relationship ended, but it does include Bergé's early and enduring work against aids. A high point is seeing footage of ACT-UP Paris staging a die-in on the streets and unrolling a pink condom over the obelisk in Place de la Concorde. Discussing them as a visible gay couple, former Minister of Culture Jack Lang said Saint Laurent and Bergé were symbols "of courage and power, of nobility and love." Fashionistas are forewarned, ultimately viewers will learn more about how Christie's mounts an epic auction -- with gala previews in New York and London before the Olympic-sized event itself in Paris's Grand Palais -- than they will about how a designer creates couture. The movie captures the primal, adrenaline thrill of bidding wars, as when this Brancusi sculpture goes for $26 million Euros, but the filmmakers are too sophisticated to tell you the overall results, or to explain that the proceeds were split between their existing foundation and a new non-profit to fund scientific research to battle aids. In fact, their auction shattered records as the highest-grossing personal collection in history. Guess the total -- no, higher -- posted after the jump.
$483,835,144. Oui, just under half a billion dollars. It's sweet to hear Bergé, who will be 81 this year, recollect that when Saint Laurent created his Mondrian dress in 1965 they "never dreamed, even in fantasy," that they could ever own such a painting.
Wow! Thanks for this. I will see if I can add it to my Netflix queue. :)
Posted by: J.P. | May 14, 2011 at 06:56 AM
I like to see if it is turned on in Philly. Thanks for the article !
Posted by: Yongkolyi | May 14, 2011 at 11:04 PM
French film is really something to be watched out!
Posted by: pinstripe suits | May 27, 2011 at 06:44 PM
the loss of yves was the worm in lifes apple for a special person such as pierre.keep the flame lit pierre and shine on you crazy diamond. dene
Posted by: dene branda | December 21, 2012 at 05:28 PM
hope your still kicking around Paris and enjoying life , don't let anyone rent space in your head,Pierre. live everyday to its fullest, laugh, cry, and meditate on all the special times in your life. Dene
Posted by: dene branda | December 20, 2013 at 07:19 PM