Yves Saint Laurent

His Life and Times / 5, Avenue Marceau 75116 Paris

By Mark Wilson

This is a set of two complimentary feature-length films that give an intimate look inside the turbulent and exciting world of “Yves Saint Laurent”. Together these movies tell the story of Yves Saint Laurent that otherwise would be incomplete.

In the first film, His Life and Times, Yves Saint Laurent sits down with renowned filmmaker David Teboul, to reflect on his family album and his intriguing life story. Pictures of his childhood home in Algeria are complimented by quaint stories of his early fashion sense and his desire to create beautiful clothing at a young age. The wonderful narration, pictures and interviews with his family and friends help you to visualize his teenage rise to fashion superstardom with the fashion house of legend Christian Dior. Yves recalls leaving Dior to start his on house and the international success and influence his own lines gave him.

in this intimate memoir, Saint Laurent candidly discusses his tormented adolescence, revealing his loneliness and his challenges while creating marvelous fashion. He quietly contemplates and dismisses the obstacles he faced on his rise to become an international style icon as only a man who is constantly looking ahead to the next great challenge can do.

The portrait is completed with evocative period footage, featuring longtime supporters including Catherine Deneuve and Lee Radziwill, and exclusive interviews with his mother, his business partner and companion Pierre Berge, and long-time muses, Loulou de la Falaise and Betty Catroux.

The second film “5 Avenue Marceau 75116 Paris” reveals the painstaking process of creating a collection. Filmmaker David Teboul is given extraordinary accesses to the designer and his staff; with wonderful one on one interviews and impromptu footage of the key people and pivotal moments as they pull together Yves Saint Laurent’s second to last clothing lines.

Although now retired, for years Yves Saint Laurent met with his staff every morning at 5 Avenue Marceau, the most glamorous neighborhood in Paris, were 200 participants immersed themselves in a magical world of fabric and thread to turn Yves’ dreams into runway realities. The master, for the first time ever, opened the doors of his mythical house of fashion to a film crew led by David Teboul during the creation of his second to last clothing line. The crew was allowed to quietly film his tribe of dressmakers and tradesman, embroiderers and workshop managers, for three months.

From the early stages of pencil strokes on a stark page to the stunning revelation of a model draped in dazzling couture, Teboul captures every painstaking step of the amazing transformation. This never-before-seen footage is enhanced by interviews with the few rare people who can intervene in Laurent’s ballet without disturbing his vision, including Anne-Marie Munoz, his friend since his early days at Dior; Loulou de Falaise, his muse; Pierre Berge and the heads of his workshop.

YVES SAINT LAURENT - Collector’s Edition DVD

YVES SAINT LAURENT
His Life and Times
Written (in French, with English subtitles) and directed by David Teboul; directors of photography, Philippe Pavans De Ceccaty and Hélène Louvart; edited by Annette Dutertre; produced by Christian Baute; released by Empire Pictures. At the Film Forum, 209 West Houston Street, west of Sixth Avenue, South Village. Running time: 77 minutes. This film is not rated.
WITH: Yves Saint Laurent, Lucienne Mathieu Saint Laurent, Pierre Bergé, Edmonde Charles-Roux, Loulou de la Falaise and Betty Catroux.

YVES SAINT LAURENT
5, Avenue Marceau, 75116 Paris
Written (in French, with English subtitles) and directed by David Teboul; director of photography, Caroline Champetier; edited by Martine Giordano; produced by Christian Baute; released by Empire Pictures. At the Film Forum. Running time: 85 minutes. This film is not rated.
WITH: Yves Saint Laurent, Anne-Marie Munoz, Loulou de la Falaise and Pierre Bergé.