Yves Saint Laurent

The little black dress is almost there, but it needs something. Spotting some white fabric lying around the atelier, fledging designer Yves Saint Laurent (Pierre Niney) fashions it into a sash, a sublime enhancement that wows his boss Christian Dior (Patrice Thibaud). Before long, the young man is the boss, taking over the House of Dior in 1957 at 21, the start of a meteoric rise charted in a drama that is as stylish as one of Saint Laurent’s dresses. This sleek adaptation of Laurence Benaïm’s biography focuses on 20 years in the iconic couturier’s life, as he revolutionizes fashion after striking out on his own and falls in love with long-term partner Pierre Bergé (Guillaume Gallienne). But even as creations such as the Mondrian dress make Saint Laurent a household name, battles with personal demons threaten to derail it all. Director Jalil Lespert exquisitely recreates the glamor of Saint Laurent’s world and designs, but his true stroke of genius is in the casting of his star. Niney bears a striking resemblance to the man he portrays, but his performance goes far beyond the physical as he burrows deep into the character, not so much playing Saint Laurent as incarnating him.