2014 will be about Yves Saint Laurent–again.
The arrival of new creative director Hedi Slimane—who famously sparked controversy last year, when he kicked the ‘Yves’ out of the ‘Saint Laurent’—was not enough. This year, the brand will be in the limelight again, with two biopics of the legendary designer that will hit movie theaters worldwide.
The first one, named YSL, and launched yesterday, January 8th, is Jalil Lespert’s dramatic interpretation of Yves Saint Laurent’s life and career, recounting his turbulent success in fashion, as well as his daily, personal struggle.
“My life with Yves Saint Laurent was no fairy tale,” Pierre Bergé, the life and business partner of Yves Saint Laurent, told WWD. “The movie doesn’t take sides. It reflects a truth. All men have a dark side and a light side.”
Critics in France already expressed their satisfaction with this first take on Saint Laurent’s life, labeling Lespert’s movie as “sublime, overwhelming, timeless” (Paris Match), or as ”a brilliant love story between two very particular beings” (Elle), and notably that “Jalil Lespert undresses a legend by showing him wrestling with his demons” (Le Figaro).
The feature film begins in 1957, as Yves Saint Laurent—played by French actor Pierre Niney, whose striking resemblance to the young Saint Laurent has already caused a lot fink to flow—is named Head Designer at Christian Dior Couture, and spans until 1976, the year of his legendary Russian Ballet and Opera Collection.
In this context, Lespert has been given carte blanche authority to use the entire archive of the Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent Foundation—which comprises 5,000 dresses, 15,000 accessories, and 35,000 drawings—and was thus able to depict the designer’s vivacious sketches, model fittings, and runway shows in a most intriguing way, while adding a particular focus on his close relationship with Pierre Bergé.
That said, the much-awaited YSL biopic is already feeling the rivalry of Saint Laurent, another upcoming feature film about the designer, directed by Bertrand Bonello and starring French actor Gaspard Ulliel.
Unlike Lespert’s “official” biopic, Pierre Bergé doesn’t approve the second version, which will hit movie theaters in autumn. “Two films on YSL? I hold the moral rights over YSL’s work, his image, and mine, and have only authorized Jalil Lespert,” said Bergé about the upcoming feature film, which has received the go ahead from the François-Henri Pinault, CEO of Kering, and owner of the Yves Saint Laurent brand.
“They are not allowed to show copies,” he added. “I do own the moral right to Yves Saint Laurent’s oeuvre, and if the moral right is breached—in other words, if clothes or sketches that are not by Yves Saint Laurent are shown—then I do reserve the right to take action.”
One can only hope that this battle won’t overshadow both parties’ initial aim—a rightful tribute to Yves Saint Laurent, as a great man and as a fashion genius.
—Elisabeta Tudor
