Saint Laurent Creative Director Anthony Vaccarello and Director Nathalie Canguilhem have crafted a moody visage of night and day, black and white, with accents of dusty millennial pink and watery blue. What does it all mean? This existential thought might occur as one views the film, as these androgynously beautiful young people lounge around the Chateau Marmont or wander down the medians of empty highways, appearing to be all dressed up with nowhere to go.
The film is book-ended by night scenes, and in between are images of sun-lit hotel rooms, hallways, palm trees, slow motion shots of models in an empty pool… and then two of the protagonists plunging fully clothed into that same pool, which now is mysteriously full of water. The laconic, vaguely apocalyptic score by SebastiAn is punctuated by a moment of drama about halfway through, as a tattooed young lad energetically destroys a pyramid of champagne glasses all perfectly filled with rosè. Then the music and the action slowly crescendo, peaking with a joy ride in a vintage silver convertible, and ending with the money shot of a pink-haired waif on a bed of roses forming the company’s logo.
The styling is impeccable, simultaneously edgy and timeless, as is to be expected from Saint Laurant. And yet the film leaves one feeling unsatisfied, as if all of this youthful beauty is filled with emptiness. Perhaps it is because all the people in the film look emotionless and unsatisfied. A film with this level of abstraction can be an effective way to draw the viewer in, and entice the audience to use their imagination to fill in the blanks. Unfortunately in this case, the bored and angsty protagonists are so infused with a “why bother” attitude that one is left to wonder…if they can’t be bothered to care, then why should we?
Saint Laurent Creative Director | Anthony Vaccarello
Director | Nathalie Canguilhem
Models | David Prince, Mads Mullins, Yves Rohloff, Simona Kust, Skyler Pruet, Erin Mommsen & Aiden Gilbert
Location | Los Angeles, California at Chateau Marmont
Music | SebastiAn