In 1970's Milan, Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga) worked for her family's trucking business. Until she met Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver), a law student, at a party and fell head over heels in love with him.
Patrizia is well-aware of the Gucci name, as well as the family's wealth and business empire, which is why Maurizio's father, Rodolfo (Jeremy Irons), is so critical to her. Despite this, Patrizia and Maurizio married and gained the trust of the entire Gucci clan, including other key members such as Aldo (Al Pacino) and Paolo (Jared Leto).
One day, Patrizia meets Giuseppina "Pina" Auriemma (Salma Hayek), a psychic, who assures her that she will get everything she wants. These words comforted and motivated her to go to work and use every resource at her disposal to gradually impose herself on the family business.
As she amassed influence under the Gucci brand, she became obsessed with power and wealth, eventually instigating her own family’s destruction.
Based on the 2001 book "The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed" by Sara Gay Forden, the "House of Gucci" tells the story of the Gucci family, specifically the relationship between Patrizia Reggiani and Maurizio Gucci, which ended tragically in 1995.
Prior to its release, the film has been in development since 2006, with a number of directors taking on and abandoning the project. Until "Gladiator" director Ridley Scott took over and cast Academy Award nominees Lady Gaga and Adam Driver in the lead roles. However, despite the fact that the film is directed by a critically acclaimed director and stars an all-star cast, the direction and performances in the film are not quite as spectacular as one might expect.
Lady Gaga’s characterization of Patrizia Reggiani draws criticism for its absurdity. The pop star turned movie star admitted that she did not finish reading the book and that she did not consult Reggiani for the role. Without meeting the person she’s playing, she turned the infamous pop-icon into an outsized, mad, and power-hungry Italian woman. She weaves an unhinged character whose only goal is to achieve success and won’t stop for nothing.
However, because of this alteration to the character, Reggiani starts to feel so fictional in a sense that she's excessively compulsive and has no logical reason for her motivations. It is not clear where she's coming from, why she’s so in love with the outlandish lifestyle, and why she's so determined to get rid of the other Guccis from the company. There are a lot of "whys," and the film doesn't provide satisfactory answers to any of them. To be fair, Gaga did a stellar job as Ridley Scott’s version of Patrizia Reggiani. But her character feels like she's only traversing an empty space, just blabbing about what she wants.
Similarly, Adam Driver’s Maurizio Gucci might probably be the worst character the great actor ever portrayed. He feels like a placeholder in the film, serving no other purpose than to give it a conclusion. For such a long and meandering story, he did little to nothing to actually put everything to a satisfying end. Although Driver is usually endearing, with all of his tiny facial expressions and finely tuned nuances, his performance in the film is utterly monotonous and drab.
Jeremy Irons, Salma Hayek, Al Pacino, and Jared Leto round out the cast, each of whom has their own shining moments despite the fact that their screen time can make it difficult to appreciate their performances.
Ultimately, the problem with the "House of Gucci" is the stories it wants to tell. If there is one word that is almost synonymous with the name Gucci, it is "drama." And there's a lot of it in Ridley Scott's film. It's just that there's too much of it, and it's a mess. It tries to capture all of these intersecting conflicts, which span decades. There are so many characters in the story that it loses control of everything because it has to serve the needs of each one's relationship with each other and the company. Despite the fact that the film is 2 hours and 40 minutes long, there are still a few loose ends that prevent the viewer from getting the full effect of the story.
As for the pace, there are times when the movie moves slowly and steadily, and then there is the anti-climactic third act, which passes by like air. Honestly, instead of a feature film, a miniseries would have been more beneficial to the project.
Although the film is beautifully shot, it’s all style and glamor in the end. The story is unfocused and nonsensical. The characters increasingly become unlikeable and uninteresting. The only things that are redeeming about it are its surprising self-awareness and Lady Gaga’s quotable quips.
2/5
