L'Amour Fou

L'Amour Fou (2010)

Director: Pierre Thoretton

L'Amour Fou documents fashion great Yves Saint Laurent with a whimper. Conceptually, Thoretton's construction makes much sense. Yves Saint Laurent is no longer with us. His voice is silent. What remains, however, is the collection of the object d'art and homes he and his partner, Pierre Berge, have amassed over their lifetime. Thoretton chooses to use the treasury of masterpieces to speak in place of Laurent. Art and architecture, after all, have the power to speak to character and person as much as Laurent's dresses.

The failure in the film lies in its inability to tie the objects of art to their collector. Other than a Mondrian painting followed by Laurent's 'Mondrian Collection' (1965), the film uses the art pieces to reveal little of Laurent's personality. In fact, the artwork and architecture conspire and overwhelm the viewer with a sense of gross material luxuriousness, confusingly contrary to Thoretton's portrayal of Laurent as a shy and modest creator of timeless style. The apex of the film is the emotionless mass auction of the Laurent-Berge art collection. In the end, the promised "l'amour fou" or crazed love of Yves Saint Laurent is reduced to a meaningless list of sales.