House of Gucci (15).
Rating: 
Lady Gaga, with her customary penchant for shrinking into the shadows, turned up at the London premiere of Sir Ridley Scott’s new movie House of Gucci two weeks ago swathed in a diaphanous purple gown (Gucci, naturally) with a train long enough to satisfy Great Western Railway.
It turned out that her acting was matched by the dress.
Gaga, now a veteran leading lady after 2018’s exhilarating A Star Is Born, gives a big purple showstopper of a performance in House of Gucci.
According to her, she used her teenage experiences of being sexually assaulted to play Patrizia Reggiani. She was the Milan Cathedral-bound woman who married Maurizio (Adam Driver) in 1972. He would later be heir to the fashion industry and then had him killed by a hitman.
Lady Gaga, with her customary penchant for shrinking into the shadows, turned up at the London premiere of Sir Ridley Scott’s new movie House of Gucci two weeks ago swathed in a diaphanous purple gown (Gucci, naturally) with a train long enough to satisfy Great Western Railway
It is certainly a heck of a story – and Scott has assembled a heck of a cast (also featuring Jeremy Irons, Al Pacino, Jared Leto and Salma Hayek).
Irons portrays Rodolfo Gucci as the patriarch Rodolfo, who is shocked when his brilliant, affable son Maurizio marries Patrizia. She considers her a gold-digger and mistakenly believes a Klimt family Klimt to be a Picasso.
In truth, she’s not. It’s a genuine love match which turns sour.
Rodolfo’s terminal illness has made Rodolfo a target. Rodolfo coughs blood into his hankie to signal this. Now, attention turns to Aldo (Pacino), who is based in New York and whose only son Paolo Leto (Leto), seems totally helpless.
The singer revealed she was inspired by her teenage sexual assault experience to portray PatriziaReggiani. This is the Milan-based woman who, in 1972, married Maurizio Guicci (Adam Driver), heir of the fashion empire and then, the year following their divorce, saw him killed by a hitman.
Patrizia on the other hand, is surprisingly savvy in business after Maurizio wins as chairman – however when their marriage falls apart, she too becomes absurdly dependent upon a celebrity fortune-teller, Hayek.
There are distinct echoes of The Godfather, compounded of course by Pacino’s presence, while the idiotic Paolo is strikingly reminiscent of John Cazale’s immortal Fredo Corleone. But as an exercise in story-telling House of Gucci is not fit to kiss The Godfather’s boots.
It is a muddle, confused in both narrative and tone, and not especially helped by the decision to get the entire ensemble talking foreign-accented English, as if it were an extended episode of ’Allo ’Allo. It is disconcerting that the plot continues to diverge from the love story between Patrizia, Maurizio in order to concentrate on the struggle for control at the company’s boardroom.
It is a muddle, confused in both narrative and tone, and not especially helped by the decision to get the entire ensemble talking foreign-accented English, as if it were an extended episode of ’Allo ’Allo
The two are inextricably linked, of course, but it’s sometimes hard to work out which matters more to Scott and his screenwriters Becky Johnston and Roberto Bentivegna (adapting the 2001 book The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour and Greed). And while comedic, Leto’s chaotic Paolo seems like a pantomime turn which feels forced at times.
Another problem is the film’s length – over two and a half hours. Ridley Scott and his producer – who happens to be his wife Giannina Facio – could have cut 30 minutes from the movie.
House of Gucci offers many pleasures. You will find it beautiful to gaze at with amazing period details. Pacino is especially in top form.
Gaga is, however, definitely the scene-stealer.
By all accounts, she wasn’t the first person to portray Patrizia. Angelina Jolie and Penelope Cruz were also mentioned. But she really looks the part, and if you don’t mind cod-Italian accents you might think she sounds it, too.
House of Gucci is opening in Cinemas this Friday