52
Metascore
29 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 85Film.comJordan HoffmanFilm.comJordan HoffmanBonello's decision to show rather than tell keeps the audience on its toes.
- 60CineVueJohn BleasdaleCineVueJohn BleasdaleThe trajectory of success and excess followed by last act redemption is familiar to the point of parody, and the ploys with time come over as gimmicky attempt to inject an element of surprise into the otherwise predictable narrative.
- 60Time OutTime OutUnlike the clothes, though, the film is shapeless, running at its subject from all directions but never quite reaching its core.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijThe Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijThe screenplay... seems to generally lack a throughline or focus, coasting from party scenes full of drugs and alcohol to work-related drama but rarely managing to get inside the head of the self-destructive character the designer had become by the 1970s.
- 50Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundSlant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundNo matter how much Bertrand Bonello varies his split screens, triptychs, and geometric screen divisions, he forgets that one of the most fashionable virtues is knowing when to leave.
- 50The DissolveMike D'AngeloThe DissolveMike D'AngeloSuperficiality reigns here. Arguably, that should dominate a movie about a fashion designer. But fashion shows run 10-20 minutes, not two and a half hours.
- 42The PlaylistNikola GrozdanovicThe PlaylistNikola GrozdanovicPerhaps through time this hallucinatory quasi-dream of a biopic will grow in stature, but as first impressions go, the film loves itself so much it renders itself beautiful, but utterly shallow.
- 40The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawSaint Laurent is a well made but bafflingly airless and claustrophobic film.
- 40The TelegraphRobbie CollinThe TelegraphRobbie CollinFor all its visual fizz, Bonello’s film, which he co-wrote with Thomas Bidegain, tells us nothing about the designer save the usual pompous/concessive hero-worship.