The biopic Yves Saint Laurent is a pretty but disjointed thing

The problems with making a successful biopic are many-fold. Either you focus on a specific period of time in that person’s life (like Lincoln or 42), or you attempt to cover nearly their entire professional life (Babe, Jobs). It’s difficult to find thematic resonance and a plot when the story of a person is their actual life. So perhaps you fictionalize some aspects or cherry pick moments to tell a particular kind of story about them.

Or perhaps you can go experimental and artsy (I’m Not Here) and eschew the normal structures for a biopic. It’s certainly possible to make a successful story about a real person, but it’s rare that it really works. The subject matters, it must be someone who is interesting or important, a vital artist or fascinating personality. And of course, there’s the ever present worry that the film is just portraying the person totally falsely, either as a hero or a villain. For the case of Yves Saint Laurent, it’s supposedly an “authorized” version, but that doesn’t make it a good movie.

Yves Saint Laurent is based on the life of the famous and influential fashion designer, starting just as he (played by Pierre Niney) is taking over the creative direction for the recently deceased Christian Dior. Soon enough, he meets future partner in business and love Pierre Bergé  (played by Guillaume Gallienne). The movie shows many of the important pieces of his life, highlights of successes and triumphs, while also making sure to highlight his many, many indiscretions and problems. He was a drunk and an addict, and a relentless philanderer. In many ways, the movie tries to be a sincere love story between these two men, but it seems to me to represent a fairly dysfunctional relationship: the troubled genius and the steady patron who stayed together because of momentum instead of real connection. Obviously I can’t speak to their real life relationship, or know how much influence the real Pierre Bergé had on the making of the film (he regularly corresponded with the director/writer Jalil Lespert). But it’s not all bad.

The movie is acted very well, with the two leads not only looking a fair bit like the real life figures, but acting in a subtle and capable manner. Pierre Niney does an excellent job as the odd but brilliant designer, nearly making you feel empathy for a character (and it must be looked at like that, it’s still a movie) who makes a lot of terrible life decisions. His partner is portrayed as a stalwart, capable man who’s just doing his best to keep everything still going, despite a single dalliance of his own. The acting in general was very good, but that’s not the problem; instead, it’s that the story of Yves Saint Laurent’s life doesn’t really have a theme. Instead, we see a series of moments, some engaging, some dull, and many repetitive. I felt like there were so many scenes of Yves out of control I found it hard to care whether or not he did well. Of course, in real life, Yves died from brain cancer without ever knowing about it (it was hidden from him by his family and friends). And yet, where I should’ve been connected to this man, instead I just found his life story mildly interesting.

What is legitimately curious is the timing; another, non-authorized biopic (called Saint Laurent) is coming out later this year, instead focusing on only a few years in the man’s life. Will it be better for focusing on something specific? It remains to be seen, I suppose, but although this movie had a lovely soundtrack, very good cinematography, and great performances, the script and structure fell flat. As it stands now, I don’t feel like I know anything real about his life or his importance, but perhaps the next movie will change that. Or perhaps it will be awful, and make this seem great in comparison.