House of Gucci
House of Gucci has one of the best ensemble casts after Dune. If you're seeing this movie and don't know anything about the Gucci family story don't look it up. On this one it's better to go in blind. Also, forget monitoring each actor's Italian accents. It will drive you crazy, not worth digging into, so let it go and focus on their performances. This is one of my favorite films of the year. It is a Shakespearean tragedy, similar to Macbeth, about Patrizia Reggiani a middle class working woman (Lady Gaga) who marries Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver), and manipulates him over the years to work with his uncle Aldo (Al Pacino) who runs the business side of the label. Fueled by Patrizia's unrelenting desire for power, wealth, and success Maurizio's relationships start to implode with Aldo, and his cousin Paolo (Jared Leto) who is a major shareholder in the company.
The role of Maurizio Gucci isn’t loud. Rather there are a lot of subtleties to the character. Instantly without saying a whole lot of dialogue when Patrizia meets Maurizio for the first time he comes across as a full three dimensional character which allowed me to suspend my sense of disbelief and emotionally invest in his arc. Due to the writing and Adam's performance Maurizio in the beginning of the film is a salt of the earth type of person who gives up his inheritance and the relationship with his father, Rodolfo Gucci (Jeremy Irons), to marry Patrizia. With Maurizio's arc the script does such an amazing job at displaying the complexities around the notion that noble people also are susceptible to the allure of decadence, power, success that morphs into egregious acts to acquire more and more.
This is my favorite role that Lady Gaga has done playing Patrizia Reggiani. There were only a handful of scenes where I thought she could have done better. But overall she did a phenomenal job walking this tightrope between vulnerability / passion, manipulative scheming, bitter resentment, and pride wrapped in denial. With these layers the script and the film does this incredible job at showing the inner workings of the marriage between Maurizio and Patrizia. Where on one level parts of her genuinely loved him, but ultimately she loved his family's Gucci empire more. It is a cautionary tale about values. Specifically how Patrizia's ruthless pursuit of a life of luxury has devastating consequences.
The performances by Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, Al Pacino elevated the film and gave it such emotional depth. Ridley Scott and the writers, Becky Johnston and Roberto Bentivegna, made the film so personal and devastating watching the Gucci family destroy one another despite the scale of the production.
House of Gucci is currently playing in theaters.