A one-and-a-half-hour movie, which seems to be a biography of Yves Saint Laurent: with the main narration as the title of the movie, it leads to a young and immature face in the bar-exquisite facial features, a shy smile, a slightly neurotic behavior, and an affectionate confession , an ambiguous and slightly erotic physical touch - and the camera stops abruptly. Next, a flashback by Pierre Berge begins, leading to the life of Yves Siant Laurent.
This is not a complete life narrative, and it is too far-fetched to fully describe a person's life with such ups and downs in just 100 minutes. The story begins with Yves being hired by Dior, and several shots of Yves interacting with models show his amazing design talent - but that's about it. In reality, the hardships and sweat of Yves starting from the apprenticeship work have not even taken a single shot. The narration made him a young talent who effortlessly stepped into the altar of fashion, and his youthful life became thin or even blank. Of course, the fragmentation of the narrative does not stop here. The narration of Yves before entering the hospital is like a superposition of single fragments and scenes, which lacks the softness of transition and becomes a patchwork of pictures.
Pierre, as the narrator of the film from beginning to end, creates a naive, shy, neurotic, soft, dependent, non-specific, and even feminine Yves. Whether he suffered from depression due to being bullied by soldiers, or after drinking, taking drugs and indulging in sex, Yves in Pierre's mouth became a willful child who seemed to have no talent other than talent. Neuroticism, tobacco, alcohol, drugs and derailment have become the key words in Yves' life. It is doubtful whether this is the truth?
So, compared to such a changeable Yves, how is Pierre as the narrator presented in the film? He and Yves seem to have deconstructed a pair of antonyms: emotional versus rational, weak versus strong, addicted versus watching, cheating versus single-mindedness. People can't help but sigh: what a positive image Pierre is! As he himself said: He always stood by Yves' side, firmly supported Yves, protected and over-indulged Yves. The film became a biography of Yves's indulgence in the fashion world because of Pierre's narration, and it also became an inspirational biography of Pierre.
But compared to Yves, who has been dead for six years, is Pierre, a successful businessman still alive, really a trustworthy narrator? The film shows Yves's intense inner conflict through numerous stops and narrations of Yves indulging in bizarre bars, excessive drinking and deliriousness: anxiety about each post-show comment, desire for happiness, and hope for the future. Uncertainty, the desire for love and passion...these complex disturbing human natures slowly seep out in degenerate scenes that take boho to the extreme. But at the same time, Pierre is like a merciful God in the shots. He separated himself from Yves' life narrative, stood on a commanding height, and played a rational and calm role time and time again. Even when he showed Yves that kind of pity and helplessness, he faintly revealed a kind of redemption like God meaning of the person. This is an ingenious narrator: in the movie, as Yves' lover, he truly participates in Yves' life from glory to decadence, but maintains a distance far enough to allow himself to stay in the relationship between the two and escape from Yves' world He got out of it and played a role that seemed like someone else could wake up to this point. This tension full of contradictions makes one wonder: Is Pierre also such a character in real life? Or as Pierre wrote in his memoirs to Yves after his death: "Sex has always been our driving force, not art." ('It is sexuality and not art that has been our driving force'), also Or as Pierre put it: "When your relationship partner is an alcoholic, a drug addict, you have to maintain this difficult relationship. What can we do? No way. Just accept the facts. Try to help the other person, yes Yes, that's what I did, and while I wasn't completely successful, at least I did." ('When you have a relationship with an alcoholic, a drug user, you are forced to have very difficult relations. What can we do? Nothing. Just to accept the fact. To try to help, yes, which I did, with not many successes. But I did it') What is the truth? In other words, whether there is really a "truth" in a love relationship, who can say clearly.
Of course, there's a romance in French cinema that can't be imitated by a British or American film -- and that's what makes this film stand out. Whether it is Pierre's slow memory at the beginning of the film or the opera at Yves' 1976 show, from sight to hearing, from camera to music, from characters to scenery, this film reveals the romantic feelings and fashion of France. Even enchanting style. This kind of romance and fashion, which is unique to France, will be more rough and tacky if it is performed by Americans. If it is replaced by the United Kingdom, it may be a little more rigid. Only French directors can express their unique culture. Emotional interpretation to the extreme.
No matter how the film appears, Yves and his work, like this photo, will forever be a classic of human history.
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