Six films and documentaries that unravel the mystery of Yves Saint Laurent
The myth surrounding Yves Saint Laurent remains intact, decades after his first creations. Filmmakers are drawn to the tormented life of the French couturier, whose private world fascinates as much as his genius. Films and documentaries have followed one after another, each attempting to capture the wounded man behind the towering artist.
Two biopics released the same year, two visions of the couturier
In 2014, two directors tackled the same subject simultaneously. Jalil Lespert directed a film tracing the couturier’s turbulent life, from his appointment at the helm of the house of Dior in 1957 to the founding of his own house in 1961, including his fateful meeting with Pierre Bergé.
Pierre Niney portrays the couturier with uncanny precision, a performance that earned him the César for Best Actor. The film captures his inspirations, his fittings, the Ballets Russes show in 1976, as well as the triumphs and the descents into darkness that punctuated his life.
Bertrand Bonello, meanwhile, chose a more provocative angle. His film inhabits the 1970s, a decade of creative ferment that the couturier dressed with razor-sharp elegance. It is also a freewheeling odyssey through the mind of a genius.
“The contemporary woman, I invented her past, I gave her her future, and that will endure long after my death.”
Gaspard Ulliel confronting a creator’s demons
In Bonello’s film, Gaspard Ulliel delivers an intense performance. He plays a man intoxicated by work who, to escape his demons, drowns himself in parties, drugs and fleeting encounters.
Yet the two films are not really at odds. They complement each other, each illuminating a different facet of the same figure. One bets on biographical rigour, the other on atmosphere and scandal.
The documentaries, closer to the man himself
Shot over the entire summer of 1994, the documentary Yves Saint Laurent, tout terriblement draws the viewer into the creator’s private world. We follow him through his residences in Paris, Marrakech and Deauville as he prepares his haute couture collection.
The spellbinding voice of Jeanne Moreau gives magnetic life to this portrait of an acutely sensitive soul in search of solitude and peace. More than a man at work, the film reveals a creator worn down by the demons that torment him.
In 2002, David Teboul produced a testimony of a different kind. His documentary Yves Saint-Laurent, 5 avenue Marceau 75116 Paris was born out of a 60-day immersion inside the couture house, an absolute first. It was the first time the couturier had ever allowed a film crew through his doors.
- Jalil Lespert’s film (2014) traces the couturier’s career from Dior to his own house.
- Bertrand Bonello’s film (2014) plunges into the 1970s with Gaspard Ulliel.
- The 1994 documentary follows the creator through his private residences, narrated by Jeanne Moreau.
- David Teboul filmed 60 days inside the couture house for his documentary released in 2002.
- Pierre Thoretton chronicles 40 years of love between Pierre Bergé and the couturier born in Oran.
The final scene of Teboul’s documentary remains unforgettable. Laetitia Casta, in a cream suit dress with a boater hat and a bouquet of lily of the valley, walks to the end of the runway on 24 January 2001 before turning to embrace the couturier, greeted by a standing ovation.
Pierre Bergé, the man in the shadows and in love
In his 2010 documentary, director Pierre Thoretton shines a light on 40 years of love between Pierre Bergé and the little genius born in Oran. Their meeting dates back to 1958. Together, they built a global empire spanning ready-to-wear, haute couture, perfumes and cosmetics.
The thread running through the film is the art collection the couple had amassed in their homes since the early 1960s. Pierre Bergé parted with it in 2009, as though shedding memories too painful to keep.
Célébration, Olivier Meyrou’s intimate gaze
Between 1998 and 2001, Olivier Meyrou captured the couturier’s final years at the head of his house. The creator grew increasingly silent, his gaze slightly lost, his step hesitant. Yet his genius remained intact, as did the crippling shyness that 40 years of career had done nothing to ease.
Pierre Bergé, for his part, still ran the Parisian couture house with an iron hand. Tender towards the man he loved, he spoke without restraint about the glorious years, but also about the creator’s demons, a man who, in his own words, “lives in his own world, and must above all never be taken out of it”.
The documentary closes on a grand show in 2002 at the Centre Pompidou. Figures inseparable from the house appear throughout, including Loulou de la Falaise, Betty Catroux and Dominique Deroche. Characters such as Monette and Monsieur Jean-Pierre also pass through this intimate and quietly unsettling portrait.
