House Of Gucci Explores Betrayal, Fame And Fortune But Fails To Tell The Full Story
House of Gucci, a film that retells the story of how Patrizia Reggiani plotted the murder of her husband, famous fashion designer Maurizio Gucci, was released on Nov. 26.
The adaptation is based on the nonfiction book, The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed by Sara Gay Forden written in 2000. It is a multigenerational family crime drama, which many people have compared to The Godfather.
Reggiani (Lady Gaga) came from very humble beginnings. Her life began to shift when her mother married a wealthy businessman named Ferdinando Reggiani. Her life in Italy changes when she meets Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver) at a party. They quickly fell in love and got married two years later.
As Reggiani gets introduced to the family, she becomes more involved in the company and eventually convinces Gucci to take over. Gucci and Reggiani gain majority share of the company, but it eventually starts to become worthless and is no longer seen as a respectable luxury brand.
Around the same time, Gucci files for divorce from Reggiani, without her knowledge. She is so distraught and finds out about the lady he is having an affair with. That results in Gucci being shot by a man hired by Reggiani.
The film ends with his death. The central plot surrounding Reggiani and Gucci’s relationship is engaging and easy to follow. However, some scenes lack the dramatic emotions that audiences are used to seeing in Gaga and Driver’s prior acting roles.
It felt like the storyline dragged on without any real action taking place. Even though we see their marriage crumbling, I expected more pizazz and shock. Instead, it was a slow portrayal of a marriage breaking under the pressure of fame and fortune.
It leaves you questioning who the true villain of the story is. Perhaps the lack of a clear protagonist is what is most frustrating.
Clocking in at 2 hours and 37 minutes, the film explains the complex family dynamic between two father-son relationships, Aldo (Al Pacino) and Paolo (Jared Leto), Rodolfo (Jeremy Irons) and Gucci and the drama that ensues once Patrizia is introduced to the family and convinces Maurizio to take over the luxury brand.
The pacing is all over the place. The beginning is fun, but as soon as it starts to be less about Maurizio and Patrizia’s relationship and more about the business, it gets unbelievably boring.
Throughout the film you also notice the bad Italian accents. Many people said Gaga’s sounds more like a Russian accent than an Italian one. Irons completely dropped the Italian accent at a certain point in the movie and just sounds British. Leto’s accent was almost comedic. His accent was so exaggerated that if you closed your eyes and listened to him speak, you would think it’s Mario from Super Smash Bros.
Another disappointment is the movie’s lack of concentration on fashion. While the intent of the movie was to focus on the family dynamic, I felt like there should have been more focus on Gucci’s rise to the top of the fashion industry.
There is much left to be desired from a movie with such a star-studded cast but there are some meme-worthy moments and quotable parts in House of Gucci.
