French fashion genius Yves St. Laurent and Pierre Berge, his lover and business manager for 50 years, created a dynasty that survived until St. Laurent's retirement in 2002. Together, the duo wrought what is perhaps the most groundbreaking fashion/merchandising enterprise in history. However, unlike the glorious, lavish, sensual excesses of other recent fashion documentaries—with Valentino: The Last Emperor being the supreme example—director Pierre Thoretton's L'Amour Fou (which translates as "mad, crazy love"), opening June 3 at the Music Box, doesn't seem mad or crazy about either the clothes or the man who created them.
Also, there's not much love in this ultimately and rather surprisingly chilly movie, either. Instead of fashion—which was at the epicenter of the couple's life—Thoretton focuses on the story of Berge's disposal of the couple's vast art holdings after Laurent's death in 2008. However, in doing so, he doesn't bother with the how, where or why the duo found the time to accumulate such an overwhelming collection (which we are shown in detail) or, more importantly, whether it brought either of them any real pleasure.
Apparently Berge isn't interested in revealing that, either. What does become obvious as Berge narrates on camera and Thoretton illustrates with archival footage and vintage photographs, is that YSL was nothing if not a complicated man; he was plagued by addictions (drugs, drink, sex) and lengthy depressions that the taciturn Berge, nonetheless, endured. Interspersed among Berge's somewhat hazy retelling of the couple's history (augmented by friends who are not identified and will only be familiar to insiders), we see workmen packing up the fabulous collection and preparing it for a Christie's auction. Would YSL have approved of the sale of these artifacts (all 733 pieces of them)? "No," Berge replies without hesitation, regret or guilt.
There's not a whiff of sentimentality in either Berge's reminiscences about life with Yves or Thoretton's film, and it's not until we discover Berge's passion for gay rights and AIDS activism that he displays a bit of fire (a passion that, apparently, YSL did not share). Unspoken but riding just under the surface are a lot of unanswered questions about the intricate nature of the relationship between the two men, and Thoretton doesn't bother to address them. (Whoever interviewed Berge obviously followed a lot of ground rules and stayed within the barriers in exchange for this unprecedented access.)
The film, which concludes with the record-breaking auction of the artwork (attended by a suddenly gleeful Berge), doesn't even give us the tally ($261 million at a first auction, $13.4 million at a second) or tell us that most of the profits were donated by Berge to AIDS charities. However, that last fact might have destroyed the irony behind the film's title and revealed a touch of warmth that would have sullied the otherwise rather fascinating but admittedly dour spell that Thoretton and his principal subject cast on their audience.
It's been six years since writer-director Terrence Malick's last movie, The New World, and years elapsed between that and the one before it and more years before the one that preceded it. Like Stanley Kubrick before him, each new Malick film arrives with "event" status. The Tree of Life, which just won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, certainly lives up to that standard.
Like his other films, The Tree of Life fuses the natural world to Malick's narrative. However, unlike Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line, et al., the movie—which ostensibly tells the story of a stern autocrat (Brad Pitt) holding sway over his wife and his three sons in Waco, Texas during the 1950s—is light years beyond what Malick has previously attempted. At one point, the movie digresses into a 25-minute retelling of the birth of the cosmos, earth and civilization (complete with dinosaurs). The sequence is reminiscent of Kubrick's 2001. (Get your acid tabs out, folks.) Then, seamlessly, unbelievably, Malick returns to the story of Pitt and his family without missing a beat. (It evolves into a variation on the Cain and Abel story amidst the loss of innocence of the eldest son.)
Stuffed with gorgeous imagery, fluid camerawork and marvelous performances from Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain and newcomer Hunter McCracken (most of whom speak their dialogue in voiceover), Malick's movie is a true hybrid—a dense mixture of so many film, art and music elements I wasn't sure at its conclusion whether I had attended a movie or a religious service. Audiences will argue the merits of this groundbreaking work for decades to come but I'm convinced that I've witnessed a masterpiece.
Film notes:
—The Chicago Council on Global Affairs is hosting Restrepo: A View from the Trenches of Afghanistan Wed., June 1 at the Spertus Institute, 610 S. Michigan. Sebastian Junger, best-selling author of WAR and the co-director of the Oscar nominated 2010 documentary Restrepo (along with photojournalist Tim Hetherington, who was recently killed while on assignment), will discuss the film with audiences after a 5:45 p.m .screening and then sign copies of the book at 8:15 p.m. Registration and a cash bar kick off the evening at 5:15 p.m. www.thechicagocouncil.org
—Musician Genesis Breyer P-Orridge has long been a seminal figure in the world of industrial music. (P-Orridge helped create Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV.) Genesis and his partner-in-crime, Lady Jaye, have also been gender pioneers (via surgeries, etc.) in an attempt to blur their physical identities. They allowed filmmaker Marie Losier to document the process and the resulting film, The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye, is getting its Chicago premiere as part of the Gene Siskel Film Center's Underground Film Festival. The movie will be shown at the center, 164 N. State, Friday, June 3, and Thursday, June 9. www.siskelfilmcenter.com
—Out in the Silence, a documentary from co-directors Joe Wilson and Dean Hamer that focuses on the struggle for LGBT equality in small-town America follows the story of the controversy that erupted when the announcement of Wilson's impending same sex marriage appeared in the local paper. The film is being shown on Sunday, June 5 at 2:30pm and Monday, June 6 at 7pm at Facets Cinematheque (1517 W. Fullerton Avenue) as part of the ninth annual Chicago Human Rights Watch Film Festival. The co-directors will attend both screenings and participate in post-screening discussions. OutintheSilence.com
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