‘House of Gucci’ is a dark episode of ‘Lives of the Rich and Famous’

Posted on December 3, 2021

By MARK VIOLA

As anybody who knows me can attest, I know absolutely nothing about fashion. I have no idea what the difference is between Gucci and Prada, and I only know those brands because they’ve become part of our greater popular culture, which honestly says more than I care to think about.

When I first saw the trailer for director Ridley Scott’s (“The Martian”) newest film, “House of Gucci,” I was intrigued, and not just because he was the director and the film boasts an all-star cast. I had no idea the story of Gucci involved so much drama, but rich people behaving badly can produce interesting movies, as “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “All the Money in the World” can attest. (I’d actually forgotten Scott directed the latter of those two movies until I was looking at his filmography to see if there was a movie that compared to “House of Gucci.”)

This is the second Scott-directed film to hit theaters in a little over a month, and it is the second slow-boiling drama, although “House of Gucci” doesn’t have the benefit of the occasional battle scene to keep audiences engaged. Instead, it must rely solely on the script (co-written by Becky Johnston, “The Prince of Tides,” “Seven Years in Tibet”) and the talents of its cast. Fortunately, both are up to the challenge.

“House of Gucci” is one of those rare films where there are no true “good guys,” as pretty much everyone does something underhanded to someone else over the course of the story. And, I’d bet that different people will leave the theater having empathized with a different character. In my opinion, that is a sign of a filmmaker who trusts his or her audience to decide for themselves without holding their hand and pointing the way.

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