Presented at the last Milan Fashion Week, then released on social media, the short film The Tiger by Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn, With its impressive cast, it reinterprets the Gucci legend in a biting and offbeat tone.
To unveil the first collection by its new artistic director, Demna Gvasalia, the Gucci fashion house released a series of photographs entitled The family, with 38 characters sketched like in a game of Happy Families. A look book Introducing some of the characters from the "family" serves as an appetizer before discovering the film itself. At the helm are two heavyweights, two filmmakers who are cool par excellence.
On the one hand, Spike Jonze and his universe, as moving as it is strange, need no introduction. Here à Being John MalkovichAlso the author of numerous advertisements (we particularly remember the Kenzo World ad with Margaret Qualley) and more than a dozen music videos, Jonze knows like no other how to give style to his characters through bizarre poses and by creating incongruity.
On the one hand, Halina Reijn, a Dutch actress turned filmmaker, is among the most prominent directors of the moment: Bodysuits Bodysuits Bodysuits, a murder party The wildly entertaining film distributed by A24, with a cast of rising stars of American cinema, was a minor phenomenon. Since then, the filmmaker has turned up the heat between Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson – and among many viewers – with Baby girl.
A dynamic duo, then, for an astonishing exercise, halfway between advertising and a feature film.
A family matter
The story of this roughly 30-minute film is far removed from traditional commercials. In a world where major brands also own American states, Barbara Gucci (Demi Moore, who looks like she stepped straight out of...) The Substance) is the head of Gucci International and chairman from the state of California. She is also the heiress to an empire bequeathed to her by her father, which she hopes to live up to, and the head of a pathetic family made up of idlers, treacherous profiteers, and kind-hearted simpletons (Edward Norton, Elliot Page, Keke Palmer, Alia Shawkat, Julianne Nicholson, and Kendall Jenner all have fun playing this). large family (deliberately grotesque). The arrival of a journalist as serious as he is prestigious (Ed Harris) disrupts the already precarious harmony of a stifling and somewhat degenerate family.
Given Demna Gvasalia's background at Balenciaga, it's easy to understand his deliberately provocative desire to offer a satire of the lives of the wealthy as an advertisement for a luxury brand. One immediately thinks of... The White Lotus (The music, composed by Cristobal Tapia de Veer, as in Mike White's series, certainly plays a part). But we also think of House of gucci that Ridley Scott had dedicated to the assassination of Maurizio Gucci. The story was there, very real, and behind the pomp and circumstance of a Hollywood fiction that played with good taste, this biopic also told the story of the end of a family business, and the sale of the brand to a large international group.
Today, Gucci belongs to Kering, and no family member holds a key position within the company. Gucci is no longer a family name; it's a brand, like Balenciaga or Kenzo. Thus, through this fictional detour, Demna Gvasalia seeks to resurrect the Italian company's family tradition, while also reminding us—and this is where the incisive talent of this designer lies—just how toxic family can be. The history of the Gucci dynasty offers a striking example. Under the guise of an entertaining short film, and while showcasing all the iconic looks from his new collection, Gvasalia seems to remind us that he is well aware of the complex legacy of the house he has just joined.
The Tiger by Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn, for Gucci
