Scott’s own love of design clearly dictates a lot of his decisions about the film’s direction. The story spans three decades,beginning in the 1970s,which gives fashion great scope in denoting the passing of time and,in Gaga,Scott has found an enthusiastic collaborator. Patrizia’s clothes and hairstyles become an intrinsic part of her performance as she gradually refines them – up to a point. No matter what she wears,she always leaves plenty of wiggle room until Maurizio abandons her for a younger,classier woman (Camille Cottin). At that point,desperation takes over and she ceases to care how she looks.
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Scott’s direction is at its most uncertain when he’s trying to muster up the gallows humour to grapple with the story’s most bizarre aspect – Patrizia’s alliance with the astrologer,Pina Auriemma (Salma Hayek),in plotting her revenge against her ex-husband. It’s a combination of the comic and the macabre that needs the kind of deadpan gifts that have never been part of Scott’s armoury.
Gaga could have overwhelmed Driver in their scenes together but his performance is so finely calibrated you can see the seismic shift in his feelings towards her long before she does. As she boils,he recoils while remaining too well-mannered to say so. But once his dignity hardens into arrogance,the response is volcanic.
Despite his associations with that other Italian dynasty,the Corleones,Pacino is not guilty of portraying Aldo as an insensitive thug,as the Guccis have complained. Along with his casual attitude to the tax laws,his Aldo has an extrovert’s charm,and Irons,too,brings complexity to Rodolfo,who softens on learning he’s to be a grandfather.
Scott has made an absorbing film,meticulously put together,but the perversely paradoxical nature of the Guccis’ tragedy has eluded him.
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