REVIEW #115 House of Gucci (2021)

House of Gucci is the latest directorial piece from Ridley Scott and follows the Gucci family in the years leading up to the assassination of Maurizio Gucci. Exploring the relationships between family and how the success of the brand poisoned those close to it. 

CAST & THE ACTING 

House of Gucci is full of huge stars, Adam Driver plays Maurizio Gucci and Lady Gaga portrays his wife Patrizia. I think they were certainly the best performers, Driver was more articulate yet still powerful and Gaga’s was portraying more of a mental decline that eventually led to her character ordering the assassination of her husband. The main criticism has probably been how Gaga’s accent crosses between Italian and Russian but to the average person I think that’s something you can look past pretty easily. Al Pacino and Jared Leto play Aldo and Paolo Gucci and although they were certainly very over the top they did make the film more enjoyable even if it did sacrifice some of the realism. Jeremy Irons portrayed Rodolfo Gucci and although it was one of the smaller parts, I do think he done very well at showing a character come full circle in the face of death and done so within a small amount of screen time. So I think most of the cast did really well, seeing some of the negative reactions from those close to the family I’d imagine these performances weren’t that accurate, but I’m not to fussed about that.

PLOT & THE STORYLINE 

I already knew the story going into the film, I’d imagine most people are familiar with or at least aware of the assassination of Maurizio Gucci. However I was completely unaware of his journey and his life and I think that was told in a really nice and dramatic way. It was a long film and at times the pacing was a little slow, this was probably emphasised by the fact it’s not like the film had any really climatic scenes that could create real excitement for the audience and break up the duller periods. That being said, I was gripped by the story and how the relationships between these people deteriorated so rapidly and that focus was certainly on Lady Gaga’s character Patrizia. We see the innocence of her character slowly turn vindictive and calculated, but what I did notice was how Ridley Scott planted the seeds really early on in the film. What I mean by that is the little things such as her almost stalking him to arrange another meeting, or something as simple as her eyes lighting up when she heard the name Gucci right at the start. These signs were in direct contradiction to the innocent character we were seeing but clearly foreshadowed what was to come. So I did enjoy the storyline but I could see how some viewers could get bored at times.

CINEMATOGRAPHY & SPECIAL EFFECTS 

There were some really nice scenes in House of Gucci, there was a strong soundtrack and I knew that would be the case just from seeing the trailer and how the ‘Heart of Glass’ track they used, made the trailer so great! There was a strong sense of tone and colour in a lot of the scenes, almost representing the mood and atmosphere. I really appreciated the costume design, props and vehicles selected for the film, it set the scene for the 80’s and it all looked really realistic. The prosthetics used to create Jared Leto’s Paolo was also fantastic and although I don’t think it actually looked like the real Paolo Gucci, the way they transformed Leto has to be credited. There was a nice range of locations used for the film which keeps the scenes fresh and incapsulates the scope of the Gucci brand. So I think the cinematography was certainly a strong point for the film.

OVERALL (7.5/10)

I enjoyed House of Gucci, I do prefer longer films so I understand that for some viewers the length of the film combined with the slow pacing at times could leave them bored. However, I was personally hooked on the storyline, despite knowing the eventual outcome I think Ridley Scott portrayed the deterioration of the relationships between characters brilliantly. The performances were also to a high standard, Al Pacino and Jared Leto were very dramatised and over the top but I do think that made it more enjoyable because you don’t want too many monotone performances. The cinematography was handled nicely and created some really good scenes, combined with a good soundtrack. So I think this film is solid and I would recommend it to those who like films based on true events and particularly the crime/drama genre. 

Thanks for reading.