The strange, and strangely unedifying, story of fashion designer John Galliano is retold by film-maker Kevin Macdonald, who covers the ground and states the facts in an impeccably professional way. Yet this film feels constrained by the obvious need to be diplomatic with Galliano and his A-list supporters to whom Macdonald has intimate access.
Galliano is the brilliant Gibraltarian-British designer whose flamboyant designs electrified the world of couture in the 90s; he was creative director of both Givenchy and Dior in Paris. The acclaim was dazzling but he became seriously overworked, had issues with alcohol and drug use, was under emotional strain following the death of his assistant and friend Steven Robinson, and badly shaken by Alexander McQueen taking his own life. And then, in 2011, video emerged of him, clearly drunk, making grotesque antisemitic insults to women in a Paris cafe – one of a number of separate incidents – which earned him a criminal conviction and fine.
