HOUSE OF GUCCI: Forza Gaga

The plot of Ridley Scott’s second feature film to be released this year, House of Gucci, is essentially a stuffed meatball of a soap opera cooked up in a spicy fra Diavolo sauce. Based on Sara Gay Forden’s book, the film chronicles how a working-class Italian girl married her way into fashion royalty and when it all fell apart, hired a hitman to murder her ex-husband. It’s one of those wild truth-is-stranger-than-fiction stories, complete with glorious designer fashions and sprawling European estates.

With this kind of material to draw from, and with a master filmmaker such as Scott at the helm, House of Gucci should have been a camp masterpiece. Instead, it feels like several different films poorly stitched together into one, lacking tonal consistency. Without Lady Gaga’s bold, brash, and surprisingly sympathetic performance as the Black Widow herself, Patrizia Reggiani, it would be near impossible to stay engaged throughout the film’s whopping 158-minute running time; fortunately, Gaga is in almost every scene, and she’s spectacular.

Marriage, Italian-Style

When we first meet Patrizia, she’s rolling up to her father’s successful trucking business in a red sports car. As she emerges in a clinging dress purposefully designed to draw the eye to every curve (and goodness knows the camera can barely tear itself away from her backside throughout the film), the employees on the lot hoot and holler. Patrizia doesn’t mind; irrepressibly confident, she glories in the attention, strutting her way into accounting where she helps her father keep the books (and occasionally forges his name on some checks).

Patrizia’s ordinary life is turned upside down when she meets a tall, awkward man at a party: Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver), a law student who just happens to be heir to the legendary fashion house. Determined to not let their meet-cute be the last of it, Patrizia tracks down Maurizio after the party, and soon, they’re madly in love. Against the wishes of his father, Rodolfo (Jeremy Irons), Maurizio marries Patrizia and starts working for her father’s company. But Patrizia’s ambitions for him (and herself) are much higher: she’s determined to make Maurizio not only reconcile with his father but take over the running of his family’s business.

Standing in the way of Patrizia are Maurizio’s uncle, Aldo (Al Pacino), whose shrewd business acumen helped Gucci become an empire, and Aldo’s son, Paolo (Jared Leto), an oddball who, despite his entire family’s lack of faith, believes he too can be a great designer. But none of these men—including and especially Maurizio—are a match for one tiny, forceful woman with teased-up hair and tight skirts. And when Maurizio breaks her heart, Patrizia doesn’t just refuse to grant him a divorce: she consults with her psychic advisor, Pina (Salma Hayek), and hires a hitman to kill him.

Gaga, Ooh La La

Lady Gaga earned a well-deserved Oscar nomination for her starring role opposite Bradley Cooper in his 2018 remake of A Star is Born; the magnificently eccentric pop star disappeared into the role of Ally, an aspiring singer-songwriter who just needs a little bit of faith and opportunity to become a great success. In House of Gucci, however, Gaga is a whole other animal, a prowling tiger of a woman that I imagine is much closer to who she truly is than Ally was (despite the fact that Patrizia doesn’t sing at all whatsoever in this film).

Similar to Margot Robbie’s wonderfully complex (and comic) embodiment of embattled figure skater Tonya Harding in I, Tonya, Gaga’s interpretation of Patrizia is less that of a villain and more that of a woman simply fed up with not being given a fair shot—who can blame her for resorting to desperate measures to get what she wants? Exuding a natural sensuality and confidence, Gaga’s Patrizia knows she can match every conniving move of the Guccis despite their repeated jabs at her low birth and inconsequential name. When Maurizio embarrasses her in front of his wealthy friends in San Moritz, including Paola (Camille Cottin), the socialite that he will eventually leave her for, Patrizia doesn’t go into her bedroom and cry about it; she goes on the attack, sidling up to Paola in a skintight red snowsuit and making ominous remarks about not touching other people’s things. Never has someone tapping a spoon on the rim of an espresso cup carried with it such subtle menace.

The problem with House of Gucci is that the rest of the movie—including the majority of the cast members—does not live up to Gaga’s firecracker of a performance. Driver, who I normally find one of the most fascinating actors working today, doesn’t share Gaga’s commitment to the bit; his Italian accent fades in and out, as does the quality of his performance. In some ways, Driver’s bland embodiment of his character actually works; after all, Maurizio is supposed to be a weak man, easily dominated by Patrizia, and Driver is all too easily dominated by Gaga in every scene they share together. (This is made extra hilarious due to the fact that Gaga is more than a foot shorter than Driver; watching this little woman make him into her marionette is glorious.) But in the end, Maurizio is so dull and unlikable that I was waiting in anticipation for Patrizia to finally decide to off him.

And I’m not exaggerating when I say finally there: House of Gucci starts strong, as Patrizia seduces Maurizio and starts wheedling her way into the Gucci business, but after the first hour, the film grows slow and repetitive. Every scene feels as though it goes on for far too long, and many feel entirely unnecessary altogether. It doesn’t help that most of the actors, like Driver, are playing this outrageously story far too straight, delivering over-the-top dialogue about craving espresso under pressure in cheesy fake accents while still behaving like they’re in a prestige piece. The result is that certain characters often seem to be in entirely different films than whomever they’re sharing a scene with, leaving the audience feeling confused about how they’re supposed to react. And based on the way he directed the film, I’m not sure Ridley Scott knows, either.

The main things that kept me interested in House of Gucci even as it continued ad nauseum were the fantastic ensembles and hairstyles that Patrizia sported over the course of the film, which covers a period of time stretching from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s. Costume designer Janty Yates—a frequent Ridley Scott collaborator who also worked on his other 2021 feature, The Last Duel—goes all out in outfitting Gaga and the rest of the cast in wonderful outfits that go a long way towards fleshing out the setting of the film and the personalities of each of the characters, from Paolo’s unflattering belted jackets to Maurizio’s simple but classy sport coats to Patrizia’s spangled, skin-tight dresses. Gaga’s usual hairstylist, Frederic Aspiras, takes her from tight 1970s curls to big 1980s frizz in a way that does more to convey the passage of time than anything else in this film.

Apart from Gaga, the only actor in House of Gucci who delivers on the promise of the film’s subject matter is Jared Leto, nearly unrecognizable as the sloppy, pathetic Paolo. Leto plays up every outrageous thing about the character, exaggerating his accent so much that nearly every word out of his mouth ends in an -a and waving his hands around like he’s trying to take off and fly. He’s absolutely absurd, a caricature of what happens when the idle rich are led to believe they possess abilities and qualities that they are in fact wanting. His performance is less nuanced than Gaga’s, but at least, like her, he appears to be enjoying himself; they both know what kind of movie House of Gucci should be and could have been with a more consistent, no-holds-barred vision of excess.

Conclusion

As a vehicle for everything Lady Gaga excels at as a performer—including commitment, charisma, and visual splendor—House of Gucci could be considered a great success. Unfortunately, nearly everything else in the movie lets her down, and us.

What do you think? Are you a fan of Lady Gaga’s acting abilities? What roles would you like to see her take on next? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

House of Gucci was released in the U.S. on November 24, 2021 and in the UK on November 26, 2021. You can find more international release dates here.

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