Ridley Scott‘s adaptation of the story of the inglorious end of the family business Gucci – today no member of the Gucci family is involved in the international fashion empire – and the assassination of Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver), hired by his ex-wife Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga) is great theater. Scott‘s film lies somewhere between Macbeth, THE GODFATHER, and a tabloid, between shrill farce and epic tragedy. In the English version this somewhat ambivalent impression is also due to Scott‘s bold decision to have all the actors speak with Italian accents. This can sound subtle and sexy like with Adam Driver or Jeremy Irons, who play the Gucci patriarchs, of over the top like Lady Gaga and Jared Leto, who plays Paolo, the black sheep of the family, a super-irritable sensitive soul in loud cord suits. A performance that has been praised and dissed by the press – it reminded me of uncomfortable, homophobic cliches. In the successful German dubbed version, all the accents besides Leto were not included. It is more consistent for it.

HOUSE OF GUCCI starts off as a love story between Patrizia, the lively daughter of a trucking company boss, and Maurizio, the seemingly shy son of the Gucci company founder and a lawyer-to-be. When Patrizia hears the name Gucci at a party, it takes a hold of her and she never lets Maurizio go after that. He is charmed and cuts ties with the family in order to marry her. Patrizia‘s first big goal has been reached. Now it‘s about bringing back Maurizio to the money. Like Lady Macbeth, she gets to work behind the scenes. She sweet talks the older generation, pressures Maurizio to patch things up with the patriarch and schemes against Paolo. The complete control over the family business gets closer and closer. But then it‘s her who is booted out. While Maurizo, who has gotten used to the money and power by now, has a new, more stylish woman on his side and begins to reinvent the fashion empire, she and her fortune teller (Salma Hayek) plan revenge.

Lady Gaga as Patrizia has so much energy and drive, that she‘s somehow the popular figure. Adam Driver manages to perfectly transform from a lanky wannabe student into an autocratic company boss. Al Pacino as Uncle Aldo is the only member of the clan who seems to have a heart. Ridley Scott stages the sordid family story revolving around greed, envy, and revenge with the most opulence and the usual high gloss visuals. An Oscar for set design and costume seems certain. The snowsuit and sunglasses on Lady Gaga alone! Every detail and every scene is wonderfully staged, from the choreography of the cars to the Christmas party that would be home in a Douglas Sirk film – and yet not a lot of it is moving. In the meantime, around the time when Maurizio flees from the Italian police to Switzerland on a motorcycle, shortly before the focus changes from being a marriage drama into being about the rise and fall of the Gucci brand, the question pops up: why all this effort? Why should I be interested in these people and their dramas? Then the spectacle carries you away again.

Hendrike Bake

Translation: Elinor Lewy