Cape Argus E-dition

‘House of Gucci’ balances camp with drama for an insightful journey

JAMAL GROOTBOOM jamald.grootboom@inl.co.za

THE film House of Gucci is an entertaining take of the Gucci family with some phenomenal acting performances and some not so phenomenal, but still offering an interesting story overall.

Directed by Ridley Scott, House of Gucci is inspired by the shocking true story of the family behind the Italian fashion empire.

When Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga), an outsider from humble start, marries into the Gucci family, her unbridled ambition begins to unravel the family legacy and triggers a reckless spiral of betrayal, decadence, revenge and ultimately … murder.

By now I’m sure we’ve all seen Lady Gaga on the relentless press tour for this movie, including all her zany comments about how she stayed in character during the entire filming process and other wacky statements.

And for what it is worth, all the studying and method acting approaches she took pay off. Unlike A Star Is Born where Gaga could pull from personal experience for Ally, here she had to take a different approach and came out as one of the best parts of House of Gucci.

While watching the film you only see Patrizia and Gaga’s portrayal is nothing short of Oscar-worthy. It is the same for Adam Driver. The majority of the film rests on their shoulders and they gave Maurizio and Patrizia hills and valleys throughout the movie.

Al Pacino once again pulled out a performance that most actors could only dream of. As a viewer, you feel for Aldo Gucci as he goes from reintegrating his nephew into the family to being pushed out of the family business due to the moves of Maurizio and Patrizia.

The film is directed well and looks beautiful, but I wasn’t expecting anything less than stellar from the Alien filmmaker. You truly feel transported to each era from the ’70s to the late ’90s as we follow the destruction of the Gucci dynasty.

Since this movie is inspired by true events, it does take some liberties and Scott adds a dash of camp that shows not only in the acting but in the way events transpire.

The biggest problem with House of Gucci is Jared Leto.

For some reason, he decided to do a caricature of Paolo Gucci, giving him a weird high-pitched voice along with a stereotypical parody of an Italian accent. Of course, almost everyone in this film is putting on an Italian accent and they still sound like Italians.

However, Leto sounds like he escaped from the Super Mario movie and tonally doesn’t fit with the rest of the cast. This is especially evident in the scenes with Pacino, who is giving this grounded performance that is sure to get him an Academy Award nomination, while Leto is playing Paolo like he’s in a RuPaul’s Drag Race over-acting challenge.

House of Gucci is still entertaining to watch and looks into the dark history of the famed Italian fashion house that we know now. Gaga, Driver and Pacino give Oscar-worthy performances.

If you want to enjoy a slightly campy take on the Gucci family then this is worth the watch.

◆ Rating 3/5

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2021-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

http://capeargus.pressreader.com/article/281792812310088

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