Yves Saint Laurent Film Analysis: Yves Saint Laurent

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In 2014 two extremely similar movies about the French designer Yves Saint Laurent were released. Although both of these films shared the similar traits of a French biopic about the same person, one of these films had yielded more success than the other. What was the attribute that the film Yves Saint Laurent had that the Saint Laurent filmed lacked in order to be as successful? The film Yves Saint Laurent had a total box office of $21 million USD and dominated its opponent Saint Laurent which had a total box office of $2.5 million USD. The Yves Saint Laurent film was released on July 9th, 2014 and featured the life of the French designer, spanning from the beginning of his fashion career with Christian Dior and carried on up until his death.
According to fashion’s double; Representation of Fashion in Painting, Photography, and Film (Geczy, Karaminas) , the director of Yves Saint Laurent, Jalil Lespert wanted the film to capture the life of Yves in the most accurate manner and provide an authentic depiction of his life. fashion’s double; Representation of Fashion in Painting, Photography, and Film also tells us that Lespert used the original artwork drawn by Yves was used in the film and invited Yves lifelong partner Pierre Berge to the production. These both contribute greatly to the aspect of verisimilitude, which is a trait that the Saint Laurent film lacks. In the New York Times review of the film, "Review: 'Saint Laurent, ' Beautiful People, High Fashion and Career at Its Pinnacle." (Scott), the author criticizes the director of Saint Laurent for his lack of plot structure that “tests a viewer’s patiences” (Scott). In addition to fashion’s double; Representation of Fashion in Painting, Photography, and Film and "Review: 'Saint Laurent, ' Beautiful People, High Fashion and Career at Its Pinnacle.", the source "Yves Saint Laurent -- Time Regained." can be used to verify the verisimilitude of Yves life in Yves Saint Laurent and Saint Laurent by referring to the actual events that occurred in his life. When comparing the truth of events to the films, the film with the most accurate depiction of
As mentioned above the Yves Saint Laurent film spans most of Yves life, where on the other hand the Saint Laurent film only spans from 1967 to 1976. According to Mise En Scene; French Theater Now (Bradby, Sparks) mise en scene is a massive factor in setting of time. What is put into the scene and how it is placed allows the viewers to form an understanding of when this scene takes place in relation to time, even without telling the viewer exactly what the date is. The Yves Saint Laurent film required a more complex level of mise en scene seeing that it spans from the late 1950s up until 2008, and the mise en scene delivered to its expectations for each and every time period. On the other hand the Saint Laurent film only had a time period of 9 years and while it did deliver to its expectations, it did not go as far as to beat the Yves Saint Laurent film. In addition to Mise En Scene; French Theater Now, The Texture of Genius (Lee) provides direct examples of mise en scene in Saint Laurent. The Texture of Genius goes in depth when it comes to analyzing the artwork by Yves Saint Laurent that is portrayed in the film. Each collection has ties with a certain point in time and the director, Bertrand Bonello, uses this to his advantage to connect the viewers to the time

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