The House of Gucci: The Tragic Fall of a Family Fashion Empire

This film is directed by Ridley Scott and features an all-star cast.  It is based on the book of the same name by Sara Gay Forden, who covered the Italian fashion industry from Milan for more than 15 years.  Although the movie draws you in well to the opulent, high-fashion world of Gucci, its excessive length and somewhat-confusing plot drag it down.  It's essentially a true story about how extremely dysfunctional family dynamics unraveled perhaps the greatest family franchise in the world! Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver) is the only son of Rodolfo Gucci (Jeremy Irons) and is the heir to 50% of the Gucci shares.  Maurizio falls in love with a middle-class woman, Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga), but his father is against their getting married.  Maurizio marries Patrizia anyway, which results in Rodolfo cutting him off from the Gucci shares inheritance.  Patrizio and Maurizio then start a relationship with the only other two shareholders (who own the other 50%): his uncle Aldo (Al Pacino), and Aldo's incompetent son Paolo (Jared Leto). I won't say anymore about the very complex plot, but, basically, Patrizio manipulates Maurizio into actions that eventually bring the house of Gucci down.  Gucci eventually survived and even thrived, thanks to the great designer Tom Ford, but no family member has any role in Gucci anymore.  The ensemble cast is terrific – especially Lady Gaga – and the story, on the whole, is an interesting one; however, if you are curious about what happened to Gucci, I'm sure the book is better.