Part of the job of a documentary filmmaker is to draw in an audience that might not come pre-programmed with knowledge about the subject, and then educate them about that subject. This documentary fails completely at that. I learned a lot more from the Wikipedia page about Valentino.
This purports to tell the life of Valentino Garavani, a man frankly I had never heard of in my life. The silent film actor Rudolph Valentino is more famous. So, do we really learn about his childhood, his education, his influences? Except for a small statement about seeing women on the silver screen when he was 13, not really.
Do we learn much of anything about the man, the business, the world it all happens in? No. You would think that if fashion is important in some way, that might be explained. You would think that if he is "the last emperor" that you might explain who the other emperors were and why nobody else is an emperor now.
For crying out loud, we hardly even got a good look at any of his history of work.
I couldn't tell if I was watching some sort of anaesthetized special of Absolutely Fabulous, or Zoolander, or The Osbournes with all the fun sucked out.
The main things I learned:
(1) it's apparently possible to become an emperor of fashion (even a gay emperor) without designing anything of any note for men, despite the desperate need for ANYTHING new in men's clothing
(2) female fashion models have nice breasts, but are otherwise the most hideous examples of the human form, especially when they start "walking". It's no wonder these clothes won't fit anyone else; they're designed for limping space aliens.
(3) apparently the fashion world is entirely ignorant that "triumph of the will" is a Nazi reference.
So maybe you already know this Valentino, and maybe you enjoy a peek at the rather dull and arrogant life he leads. Then this is for you. But not for me.
This purports to tell the life of Valentino Garavani, a man frankly I had never heard of in my life. The silent film actor Rudolph Valentino is more famous. So, do we really learn about his childhood, his education, his influences? Except for a small statement about seeing women on the silver screen when he was 13, not really.
Do we learn much of anything about the man, the business, the world it all happens in? No. You would think that if fashion is important in some way, that might be explained. You would think that if he is "the last emperor" that you might explain who the other emperors were and why nobody else is an emperor now.
For crying out loud, we hardly even got a good look at any of his history of work.
I couldn't tell if I was watching some sort of anaesthetized special of Absolutely Fabulous, or Zoolander, or The Osbournes with all the fun sucked out.
The main things I learned:
(1) it's apparently possible to become an emperor of fashion (even a gay emperor) without designing anything of any note for men, despite the desperate need for ANYTHING new in men's clothing
(2) female fashion models have nice breasts, but are otherwise the most hideous examples of the human form, especially when they start "walking". It's no wonder these clothes won't fit anyone else; they're designed for limping space aliens.
(3) apparently the fashion world is entirely ignorant that "triumph of the will" is a Nazi reference.
So maybe you already know this Valentino, and maybe you enjoy a peek at the rather dull and arrogant life he leads. Then this is for you. But not for me.