Ridley Scott is obviously one of the most influencial directors of all time, though he's not one of my favourites. I've only seen a few of films, though I do really like what I've seen. Alien is a really well crafted sci-fi / horror movie, Gladiator is also really terrific, and The Martian is honestly one of my favourite films of all time, and may even crack the top ten if I ever made one. So, I wasn't especially keen to see his new film House of Gucci because of him, but rather because I just thought it looked good. I mean, it looked very competently helmed and well acted from the trailers, and it also details a story that I know absolutely nothing about, so I thought it would be worth a go.
The film chronicles the marriage of Patrizia Reggiani and Maurizio Gucci and their turbulent relations while trying to run the iconic fashion company alongside other members of the Gucci family.
The best thing about the film by far is the acting, it's all rather perfect. Lady Gaga absolutely smashes it as Reggiani; I was rather ambivalent about her breakthrough performance in A Star is Born, but here, I thought she was just on fire. She looks the part, and she conveys this manipulative and conniving character so well. Definitely the standout in the ensemble. Adam Driver is also terrific, though we've come to expect greatness from him so it's less surprising. He's definitely one of the most consistently great actors I've seen over the last five or so years. Everyone else was mostly pretty good too, although I'm not sure how I felt about Jared Leto in the film; he's clearly going over the top and being a very overtly stereotypical Italian, and while it certainly was entertaining, I don't think I liked it overall.
Production-wise, this was expectedly fabulous. The costumes were all stellar as you may expect from a film where fashion is a crucial aspect, and most of the settings and locations were pleasant and well captured. The film is also very long, at least two and a half hours, but it didn't drag most of the time and was a reasonably well-paced watch. My interest in what was going on did fluctuate a lot of the time but that's kind of inevitable when it comes to any film of this length.
My main issue I suppose is that a lot of it just felt ordinary; I struggle to believe that this was helmed by Ridley Scott as most of it just feels quite workmanlike and plain, with little about the filmmaking and direction that really stood out to me. This isn't a big deal, but it is a shame when a film doesn't offer much distinction to help form its own identity.
All things considered, House of Gucci was pretty good. A terrific array of performances make what is ultimately quite an unremarkable piece of filmmaking consistently solid. Probably won't be rushing to catch this again but there's plenty to admire.
I'm going to give House of Gucci a 7.5/10
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