Yves Saint Laurent
Weinstein Company, The | Release Date: June 25, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
51
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
14
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekJun 24, 2014
Jalil Lespert's Yves Saint Laurent tries to sweep the evanescent butterfly Yves into its net: The movie isn't enough, but it's something. Read full review
75
Boston GlobePeter KeoughJul 24, 2014
Frustratingly elusive and seductively louche, Lespert’s “Yves” probes a cryptic myth and a fragile soul, penetrating neither, but conjuring up a taste of Saint Laurent’s suffering, genius and style. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMaghan McDowellJul 5, 2014
Ultimately, the story of Yves Saint Laurent makes a compelling argument for fashion as art, and begs to answer the question if there is such a thing as innate taste. And although the cadence might not be entirely original, the high-style results most certainly are. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyStephan LeeJun 27, 2014
Scenes between YSL and rock-steady lover Pierre Bergé (Guillaume Gallienne) spark, but the film stays too reverent to truly turn heads. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicPenny WalkerJul 31, 2014
One is left wishing a little more time were spent on the clothes and the creative process, but Yves Saint Laurent is still a lovely escape into an elegant, evolving world. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijFeb 12, 2014
Though the screenplay, based on Laurence Benaim’s biography, is all build-up and no payoff, there is just enough emotional insight to compensate for the lack of narrative fireworks in the last half-hour. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesMary HoulihanAug 28, 2014
Lespert’s film, made with Berge’s blessing, does not sugarcoat the demons that plagued Saint Laurent. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Danny SinopoliAug 14, 2014
Despite being sumptuously shot and competently assembled, it provides no real insight into the tortured mind of its subject or the creative process in general. Read full review
63
New York PostFarran Smith NehmeJun 26, 2014
Saint Laurent was known for an almost monk-like focus on his work. And so this film springs to life — the actors, the camera, the editing — when we see his creations the way they were meant to be seen: in motion, and worn by beautiful women. Read full review
60
CineVueJoe WalshJun 23, 2014
With Yves Saint Laurent, Lespert has played it safe but stylish, and pulls it off thanks to some canny casting choices and a refreshing focus on mainstream appeal. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinJun 23, 2014
Rather than do something freshly cinematic with Saint Laurent’s precise, elegant creations, the film is content to exhibit them. Read full review
60
EmpireAngie ErrigoMar 18, 2014
As elegant as the man's clothes, this handsome biopic traces 20 incident-filled years in the life of the designer. Read full review
60
Total FilmKate StablesMar 18, 2014
Jalil Lespert’s film treats its hero with a high seriousness that not even Niney’s uncanny portrayal of YSL’s artistry and mental fragility can justify. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireJun 26, 2014
Yves Saint Laurent, the movie, isn’t nearly so innovative or forward thinking. It’s a tasteful and formulaic biopic, visually lush but emotionally shallow. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinJun 24, 2014
A stylish, serviceable recounting of Saint Laurent's life from the late 1950s through the '70s. But watchable as it may be, this drama lacks intimacy and urgency. Read full review
50
The New York TimesNicolas RapoldJun 24, 2014
Mr. Lespert and his screenwriters tend to telegraph what’s happening next with on-the-nose dialogue, leaving behind an orderly but not vividly realized biography (or necessarily a complete one). Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubDavid EhrlichJun 24, 2014
Yet another biopic that feels as though it were made by an accountant, Jalil Lespert’s Yves Saint Laurent epitomizes the mediocrity of a genre that often aspires to secondhand storytelling instead of first-rate art. Read full review
42
The PlaylistJessica KiangFeb 12, 2014
Over the twenty-odd years the film covers, Saint Laurent is scene-by-scene depicted as a genius, a manic-depressive, a polyamorist, a drug taker, a mercurial friend, a partier and a terribly, terribly sensitive soul. He undoubtedly was all of these things and more, it's just a pity he doesn't also come across as a person. Read full review
40
The DissolveNathan RabinJun 25, 2014
Yves Saint Laurent is the kind of heavy-handed, substance-light, spectacle-driven period film where the set decorator and the costume designer don’t just have the most important jobs on the film, they have the only important jobs. Read full review
40
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeJun 24, 2014
What makes this film go astray are the problems that plague so many screen biographies: too much narration, too much telling and not enough showing, and presenting an artist's accomplishments in lieu of exploring his perspective. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawJun 23, 2014
The film's purpose is the reverent mystification of everything that avowedly makes YSL special. Read full review
40
Time Out LondonCath ClarkeMar 18, 2014
Sadly, this polite film, though touching in places, is so desperate not to offend, it’s the film equivalent of sensible shoes. Diehard fashionistas may disagree. Read full review
40
VarietyGuy LodgeFeb 12, 2014
Clothes make the man, but can’t save the film, in Yves Saint Laurent, in which the life of one of haute couture’s great innovators gets disappointingly by-the-numbers treatment. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineClayton DillardJun 22, 2014
For all of the supposed passion and anguish in Saint Laurent's clothing and relationships, Jalil Lespert consistently neglects to imbue the film with such a comparable level of ambition or desire. Read full review
37
Washington PostStephanie MerryJul 17, 2014
The film is artfully shot with eye candy galore: sumptuous dresses, beautiful people and scenes from Pierre and Yves’s time in Morocco. But for all its visual stimulation, the story does little to awaken emotions. Read full review
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