L'amour fou

This documentary chronicles the adult life of French fashion icon Yves St-Laurent, as told by his partner in life and business, Pierre Bergé. The history is told at the same time as Bergé prepares to sell off much of the works of art accumulated by the couple.

The older photos and film footage, beginning from the late 1950s, are gems. It showed how shy and soft-spoken St-Laurent was and how contradictory this might seem for such a successful person.

The material wealth of the two men was phenomenal. While it might have seemed that the wealth was being flaunted to envious viewers at the beginning, this is not the case later on - certainly by the conclusion. The film also displays the age-old understanding that money and fame don't buy happiness especially during a very rough time for the couple in the 1970s.

The film's style is charming especially when beautiful piano pieces are played in the background while the camera lurks about the mansions and art objects with Pierre in the foreground looking somber as a recent widower.

The men had been in an open relationship since the late 1950s. The film misses an opportunity to examine how this was widely accepted at the time in French society but not so in other societies back then. Perhaps, it was a non-issue to the film-makers. Maybe, the privacy of Yves and Pierre was respected during that time as they were part of the upper-class. In any case, this is a beautiful documentary. - dbamateurcritic.