Big budget soap opera done faux-Italian style, House of Gucci features director Ridley Scott and an all-star cast of actors deliver a true-crime story that looks the part yet has little emotional or psychological substance in its depiction of love, greed, and fashion in 1980s Italy.
Ridley Scott has long fought the criticism that his filmmaking sacrifices character for visual world building, and while decades of excellent work from Alien to The Martian certainly proves this is not the case, House of Gucci gives that criticism some credence.
Based on the true story of treachery and murder within the Gucci fashion empire during the 1980s, House of Gucci is no doubt one of the most gorgeously shot and styled films of 2021, with cinematographer Daruis Walski (All the Money in the World) and costume designer Janty Yates (Gladiator) more than holding up to their part of the bargain. But with its smattering of Hollywood actors in free flowing Italian accents and a campy tone more suited to a soap opera, House of Gucci doesn’t live up to its supposed pedigree as a player in the coveted awards race.
What House of Gucci does have is a rather good performance by Lady Gaga. She plays Patrizia Reggiani, the daughter of a garbage truck business owner who weasels her way into the Gucci family empire by marrying bookish black sheep Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver). When Maurizo inherits half of the Gucci empire from his late father Rodolfo (Jeremy Irons), Patrizia manipulates her husband into in trying to wrestle total control of Gucci from his stubborn uncle Aldo (Al Pacino), a scheme that leads to betrayal and murder.
Gaga portrays the facets of her role – the sex appeal, street smarts, emotional manipulation and undercurrent of violence – with the right amount of sass and high affluent camp drama, delivering her dialogue with an accent that blends Naples with Transylvania, while strutting her stuff in designer ‘80s fashion. Although cast alongside some heavy hitters, House of Gucci is Gaga’s show.
Driver compliments with a reserved performance that never really soars to any impressive heights; legendary scene stealers Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons get their opportunities to make their mark, Pacino especially strong in the latter half of the film; and Jared Leto is simply too much in a performance that while impressive in its makeup design, see’s the Oscar winner practically howling to the moon with his parody of an Italian accent.
The films script by Roberto Bentivegna (his feature debut) and Becky Johnston (The Prince of Tides) hits all its narrative marks but never engages as a character piece or a work of genre storytelling. Scott has created a pretty period piece with House of Gucci but has failed to capture the psychological or thematic elements to make it raise above what the film essentially is: a well performed and pretty to look at TV movie of the week.
