House of Gucci: Starry True-Crime Drama Works Better in Theory Than on Screen

By Karen Gordon

Rating: C

The story of how the Gucci heirs ultimately lost control of their family company has everything and then some: love, ambition, greed, family, loyalty, betrayal, hubris, jealousy. It’s a family drama, and a true crime story.

Unfortunately, despite these juicy elements, a star-studded cast, and a star director in Ridley Scott, House of Gucci is tepid and underwhelming.

Adam Driver is Maurizio Gucci, the mild-mannered son of the refined and remote Rodolfo (Jeremy Irons). Rodolfo and his more extroverted brother Aldo (Al Pacino) have been running the company as partners. Aldo is the showman, the adventurous thinker when it comes to the business.

Aldo is the opposite of Rodolfo, the patrician snob who’’s out of touch with a changing world that would democratize fashion. Aldo also has a son Paulo (Jared Leto), who is considered a loose canon and a clown who the family tries to keep as far away from the business as possible.

It’s 1978, and Maurizio is studying to be a lawyer when he meets the vivacious and beautiful Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga). She hears the name Gucci and her eyes light up. She’s found her big fish, and uses all her skills to reel him in.

Even though his father considers the working class Patrizia inappropriate, Maurizio marries her, and his father cuts ties. But family is family. Aldo reaches out to the newlyweds and, with the help and encouragement of Patrizia, tries to entice Maurizio back into the Gucci company. The legendary company, once a powerhouse, is now struggling, and Aldo, thinking about legacy, wants Maurizio back.

That’s settled when Rodolfo dies, and Maurizio inherits his father’s fifty per cent share of the company. Patrizia, who is less encumbered by the family’s internecine issues, has some very clear ideas about what Gucci could be.

PROUDLY SUPPORTS ORIGINAL-CIN

Despite being told by several insiders — including by the company’s long-time lawyer Domenico De Sole (Jack Huston) — that she’s not really a Gucci, Patrizia is undaunted. Soon, clashing ideas about business, ambitions, and power start to fray the family’s connections. And, of course, there are resentments, secrets, and betrayals.

The film is based on the book The House of Gucci by Sarah Gay Forden. In adapting for the screen, writers Becky Johnson and Roberto Bentivegna have changed some of the facts and pared down the characters to streamline the story and focus it around Patrizia.

Lady Gaga gives it her all here, showing Patrizia as a force behind her more reserved husband, and enamoured with the Gucci name and the life it could bring her, but always seen as the outsider. In the end, although her crime was the most serious, she wasn’t the only one enjoying the privileges of wealth and taken down by some of the worst parts of their character. There were plenty of poor decisions to go around.

It’s quite a story, and should have made for an engaging movie, which oddly could have been played either as a serious drama or high camp. And yet the film, which starts out with energy, very quickly becomes listless. Once the characters and their relationships have been established, much of the rest of the film feels like it’s in a holding pattern, devoid of narrative steam and tension.

This is a terrific cast. At the same time, was it wise to cast familiar, mostly American actors in a film about an Italian family, asking them to speak English with Italian accents which, by the way, all over the place? It’s distracting.

As well, the performances are uneven to the point where some seem to be acting as if they were in a different movie. Notably Jared Leto. Leto likes to do deep dives into his characters and thanks to prosthetics, make-up, and the best and most consistent accent in the film, he disappears into the character of Paolo, who is described by his father (with some affection) as an idiot.

Leto finds a way of playing Paolo so that we see his clownishness, but also have moments sympathy for him. And sure, you could argue that it’s a bit too broad for the film. But what Leto has done is to give us a character who is unambiguous and both annoying and fun to watch. The performance feels like it’s slightly at odds with the rest of the film, but we know who Paolo is, and what drives him.

Driver’s Maurizio is the opposite. Maurizio is a quiet and reserved character, but we don’t see enough from him to understand what he’s thinking or what motivates him. He’s emotionally flat, until suddenly he isn’t for a scene or two. But it’s too little too late. That flatness leaves a hole in the film at a key point.

The real story of the fall of the Guccis is full of the drama that happens when egos and ambition stalk a family. It’s a cautionary tale and a tragedy. But unfortunately, despite its rich source material and abundant talent, House of Gucci never finds its groove.

House of Gucci. Directed by Ridley Scott. Starring Adam Driver, Lady Gaga, Jared Leto, Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons. In theatres now.