movie review and master class on dialogue: Yves Saint Laurent

My favorite movies don’t tend to be the most popular or the best reviewed. While I can appreciate critically acclaimed movies and enjoy blockbusters, the ones I truly love and watch over and over simply have something quirky in them that I personally connect with and adore. Usually, they’re quieter movies with visuals that make me want to move into them.

I had a personal tragedy in my life (a friend died yesterday), and by the end of the day I needed to escape.

So, last night I watched an older movie called Yves Saint Laurent, which—shocker—was about the French designer. There are a few movie biographies about M. Saint Laurent, and this one was the 2014 French language version that was apparently officially sanctioned—by whom, I have no idea. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 44%, i.e., it called it a stinker.

It’s one of my new top favorite movies, because it hit all my buttons.

Now, I must explain. Many of my favorite movies bore other people. If the negative reviews say something like, “lush, stylish, period costumes, elegant design, but boring and no plot,” I’ll probably love it. When I watch movies, I want to escape. I want to pretend I’m living the scenes along with the actors. As I have a particular interest in midcentury modern design, since this film starts out in 1957, it’s pretty much perfect. Add in Paris, boys kissing, and subtitles, and I’m happy.

But the thing that got me about this movie besides the glorious production design and period-appropriate costumes was the acting … and moreover, the script.

Many of the reviews lauded the visuals and acting, but said it was formulaic and not emotionally deep. I disagree.

As far as acting, I don’t know M. Saint Laurent’s mannerisms, but if he was a thin, shy man who pushed up his glasses a lot and exploded at interruptions, well, the actor nailed the part. I don’t mean that in any snarky way. I thought it was superb.

That script, tho.

This script was a master class on showing, not telling. The actors wouldn’t say what they meant. Nothing was on the nose. I’m suspicious that the critics are used to people telling them how to feel rather than being subtle about it. While certainly there were moments of this movie that weren’t subtle, I felt like the work as a whole was nevertheless understated. I want to watch it again for how to craft dialogue because it felt very real.

I guess that’s my point of this blog post. Writing dialogue can be hard. I usually end up removing most of what I write because people don’t talk in full sentences and don’t say what they mean.

If you want an example of how to do that, watch this movie.

(And watch it for the visuals and the fashion. Yum.)

Pierre Niney in Yves Saint Laurent (2014)