Enamored With "L'amour fou"
From Le Smoking to popularizing prêt-à-porter, Yves Saint Laurent is one the most influential designers in the history of fashion. And with the release of “L’amour fou,” the extraordinary career of the couturier can be more fully understood and appreciated. I am personally enamored.
Directed by Pierre Thoretton, the documentary gives an intimate look into the business relationship and love affair of YSL and partner Pierre Bergé - all set around “the sale of the century” – the 2009 auction of his estate and priceless art collection.
A private screening at The Soho House was a befitting setting to view the extravagant lives of YSL and Bergé who worked and lived together for more than 50 years. Bergé narrates the story taking viewers from YSL’s retirement speech to his funeral through his landmark career and their lives together and finally to the Christie's auction of the estate at the Grand Palais. He recounts memoirs of grandeur as well as personal challenges. Scenes showcasing opulent homes and the objets d'art which they collected together is a testament to lives most can only dream of.
A design progidy at 21, YSL’s made his entrée into the haute couture in 1957 as head designer at Christian Dior. Under Bergé’s astute guidance, YSL established the house of Yves Saint Laurent following his unwarranted dismissal from Dior. The film shows footage of YSL’s first runway show, associations with celebrity (including a young Mick and Bianca Jagger) and the couple's jet set lifestyle and lavish home in Marrakech. Guest appearances by friends and muses Betty Catroux and Loulou de la Falaise gave a glimpse into Laurent's social life and raucous party lifestyle.
It’s a profound account of the life of a legend – the triumphs of a genius couturier and the costs of fame including severe depression and bouts with drugs and alcohol. The extreme pressures of life and business took their toll and yet, Laurent persevered for the appreciation of art and beauty.YSL’s famous Mondrian collection from 1965 was a defining moment in his career and for him and Bergé as art collectors. “I never thought we would own a Mondrian, but one fine day a Mondrian came into our collection,” said Bergé. Almost every wall, corner and bookshelf was filled with fine art from vases, sculpture and furniture to Modernist and Impressionist paintings by the masters including Degas, Picasso and Matisse.
“Would Yves have organized the sale?,” pondered Bergé during the final segments of the film. The answer? “No, because he couldn’t have lived without this painting or that statue," said Bergé. "Who knows what would have come of it?” he queried. And though I found it incredibly sad to watch the auction of this unparalleled collection of art works (along with the memories that must certainly be attached), it was comforting to know the proceeds benefit charity. A record setting €373,935,500 ($483,835,144), the most for any private collection sold at auction and the highest grossing sale in Europe on record, benefit the Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent Foundation and a new foundation established for scientific research and the fight against AIDS.
