'House of Gucci' Brings Drama, Prosthetics And Accents
Starring Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Jared Leto, Jack Huston, Salma Hayek
Rated R
Drama
Run time: 2 hrs, 37 min
Directed by Ridley Scott
In theaters November 24, 2021
When a real life Italian drama is as salacious as a soap opera, you really have to lean into it when you format it for the big screen. Aspects of House of Gucci are utterly ridiculous (specifically whatever Jared Leto is doing), but if they weren’t, I’m not sure we’d get the true insanity of this tale. Also, between this and the second season of American Crime Story that focused on the assassination of Gianni Versace, I’m seeing a lot more about the salacious aspects of the giant fashion houses than I ever anticipated. I know a handful of things related to this Gucci story due to a podcast called Even the Rich that is covering it in a miniseries, and there were definitely some differences between their story and this one, but it didn’t hit me as as problematic of a choice as it was to me with King Richard. This story comes across like the inspiration for Succession in a way, so any fictionalization feels like it just highlights the story rather than changes it.
Lady Gaga plays Patrizia Reggiani, a young woman from a family of ‘new money’ who meets Maurizio Gucci (Driver) and is determined to marry him. They have an unconventional love story, which seems to have equal amounts of calculation and actual feelings, and unsurprisingly, there are many a speed bump as they go. Maurizio becomes estranged from his father, Rodolfo (Irons), is then pushed to ally himself with his uncle Aldo (Pacino), supplanting Aldo’s own son, Paolo (Leto), as the favorite. Through these changes, there are backstabbing plots, astonishing levels of ambition and questionable moral choices. However, in a story about an incredibly wealthy and powerful Italian family, what else could you possibly hope for? It’s everything you’d imagine in an overly dramatic cable show, but this one is based in fact.
The best way I can describe this movie is the word “big.” There is a big runtime at more than 2.5 hours, which seems a bit too much. There are big accents that seem utterly ridiculous until you realize how more ridiculous it would sound if they weren’t being used, except maybe Jared Leto’s. There are big prosthetics that somehow change the entirety of Jared Leto’s face but I’m still hyper aware it’s him. There are big sets, and we see fancy homes, gorgeous views and huge gatherings. There are big costumes, especially where Lady Gaga and Leto are concerned, with insane sleeves, baffling color combinations and odd cuts, which again, seem ridiculous until you remember this is the 80s. There are big needle drops that remind you song after song that is in fact the 80s, even when that song takes you out of it. (My favorite was the use of the George Michael song “Faith” during what you’d think should be a heavy moment.) There are big scenes, speeches and dialogues that absolutely seem like the clips we’ll see on award shows when they go through the nominees. That’s what House of Gucci is. Big.
I went back and forth between whether I considered this movie good or great. I feel like I landed directly in the middle with very good. It’s a fun, silly film while still having the based-on-a-true-story feel that award season voters live for. It’s a bit overindulgent at times, where the film showcases the actors first and the content or plot second. It was difficult for me to fully be engrossed in House of Gucci at times because of it. I was always more aware that I was watching Lady Gaga, Adam Driver and Jared Leto on the screen more than I was absorbing the story itself. That does become a more common problem in these larger ensemble casts, but it stuck out more to me than usual. That being said, go into this movie and expect some drama, ridiculousness and a serious 1980s time capsule, and you won’t be disappointed. If your expectations are higher, you may not get what you want. Just enjoy it for what it is: a real life soap opera.