Lagerfeld Confidentiel (2007)

Lagerfeld Confidentiel . Film review. To enjoy a some sort of biography, wether in a book or a moving picture, it has to ascertain the need that the person in subject needs to be unique and recognizable. Famous is optional, if you asked me. But infamous wasn't. For a fashion enthusiasts, Karl Lagerfeld was a name to behold. With a quite remarkable twenty-something years of fashion career, both in photography and fashion design, Karl (at least in this film) was associated with the brand name Chanel. I'm not a fashion enthusiast. Therefore, before this film, i know absolutely nothing of Karl Lagerfeld. Might as well sent me an unanimous video about a daily life of somebody who is a total stranger to me and there you had me re-enacted this experience.

To keep the autobiographical film interesting to one who doesn't have any familiarity with the one being subjected to the film, it has to provide some kind of an unequivocally evident that this subject was indeed an interesting one and worthy of a feature-length film. In this sense, the film worked to me. Being unaware of Karl Lagerfeld's profession, i was first shown Karl's room, a very very untidy room ("I would freeze on a tidy desk", he said) with hundreds, probably thousands of books scattered about. That prompted me to guessed that he was an author whom i've never heard about. That was what had actually won me over. Next, we saw his iPods. I counted at least six from various generations. And his numerous rings (i couldn't vouch for its materials, but it looks heavy) collections, his suits (uniformly dark colored), and finally the man himself.

The film was advertised as a film to take on "the man behind the glasses" and we soon see why that was the case as Karl advertently maintained his identity in the way he dressed and ever wore sunglasses. The film then followed a daily life of Karl while interviewing him on various subjects, about his childhood, his relationship, his views on relationship, on work, on him being a homosexual, and everything else. Karl obviously lives a high-life, but somehow he said that "possessions is burdensome". Contradictory to that, he had this huge library that made me very very very envious, traveling around Europe (for work) with a private jet, a beautiful country house, as well as a house in New York downtown, and no stranger to celebrities. I would say that for an aspiring designer intending to start a career in a line of business similar to Karl's this film would be more entertained with it than myself. However, for a film that really, offers nothing new and which subject wasn't quite inline with my personal preference, it manages to keep my head floating above the boredom level. It was an interesting piece, but one i wouldn't remember for long.

This had me thinking that i had actually never seen a film about someone's biography for a long time. Nor had i enthusiastic about any of it. But, the news of George W. Bush's fictionalized biography film currently in production by Oliver Stonem and tentaively called "W", had my ears perked open. Now that was something probably worth the wait with election year and all. But above everything else, the notorious high-profile of Mr.Bush that i'm sure no one in this planet doesn't know who he is would surely made the film if it is being really made deserved at the very least a peek.

This has been a part of French Film Festival in Indonesia