House of Gucci
A: True crime/ drama
Dir: Ridley Scott
Cast: Lady Gaga, Jeremy Irons, Al Pacino, Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Salma Hayek
Rating: 3.5/5

There is a scene smack dab in the middle of Ridley Scott’s tragicomic new film House of Gucci in which Pina Auriemma (Salma Hayek), a Neapolitan psychic and Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga), shrewd and sharp-tongued wife of Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver), discuss takeover strategy and style. “Always have something red on you for protection and wear more green; green is for cleansing,” Auriemma counsels. To which Reggiani raises the side of the hand and in a classic sweeping Italian gesture asserts, “Green does not go with my lipstick!” Auriemma’s comeback: “Change your lipstick. You’re already so beautiful or wear green underwear.”  

House of Gucci offers a series of superbly plotted scenes like these, along with a few big laughs that thankfully outweigh the film’s slight tang of twisted dysfunctional family dynamics, and one very barbed truth: the control of financial conglomerates over fashion houses.