House Of Gucci [Blu-Ray]

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jared Leto

Release Date: February 22, 2022

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 7/10

Synopsis:

House of Gucci is inspired by the shocking true story of the family behind the Italian fashion empire. When Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga), an outsider from humble beginnings, marries into the Gucci family, her unbridled ambition begins to unravel the family legacy and triggers a reckless spiral of betrayal, decadence, revenge, and ultimately … murder.

Please Note: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

Inspired by the true story of the once family run Italian Fashion Empire, ‘House of Gucci’ follows the events revolving around outsider Patrizia Reggiani (Gaga) who marries into the Gucci family and soon begins to insert her own will and preferences into the empire, often to the disdain of the other family members. As she and her new husband begin to turn the empire into a game of sorts with the intention of implementing massive changes to the operation, the family soon begins to turn against each other, leading to lies, deception and eventually even murder.

Directed by talented filmmaker Ridley Scott (The Last Duel, Blade Runner) from a screenplay by Becky Johnston (Seven Years in Tibet) and Roberto Bentivegna (‘The Last Man in Brooklyn’ short film) and a story by Becky Johnston which was based on the book “The House of Gucci” by Sara Gay Forden respectively, Scott does a great job at the helm of ‘House of Gucci’ approaching the tale with a faithful, yet almost campy style that works quite splendidly for this shocking true tale. The film also benefits from a stellar cast that includes Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born), Adam Driver (BlacKkKlansman), Jared Leto (Blade Runner 2049), Jeremy Irons (Red Sparrow), Jack Huston (TV’s Boardwalk Empire), Salma Hayek (Like a Boss) and Al Pacino (Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood), along with more and nearly all providing fitting and fully capable performances in each of their respective roles, especially Gaga who is phenomenal and tends to frequently steal the show throughout.

‘House of Gucci’ is a smart, stylish and well-crafted tale that takes you back to the family days of the Gucci empire and utilizes the star power, beautiful scenery and clever approach to the story to fully envelop the viewer and almost allow you to feel like you’re part of this world from the opening moments to the riveting conclusion. Whether you’re familiar with the true tale or not, the film delivers an unforgettable look at the Italian fashion empire’s shocking evolution, yet never feeling like a droll or robotic biopic thanks to this surprising story’s elements which often give off a fictional vibe even when they’re anything but. Director Ridley Scott does a solid job guiding this one along and makes some wise choices when it comes to approaching the story, delivering as much over the top fun and laughs as mischief and conniving. His work behind the camera is only greatly complemented by the film’s powerhouse cast led by Lady Gaga who is magnificent and repeatedly steals most of the scenes that she occupies; no small accomplishment considering the plethora of acting greats she shares the camera with throughout. I would strongly encourage trying to find the opportunity to give ‘House of Gucci’ a chance if you already have any interest in the film whatsoever. It’s an engaging, at times almost campy but always thoroughly intriguing exploration of the fashion empire’s rise and fall of sorts that’s cleverly approached in a manner you might not expect but that also works remarkably well for this over the top true story.

Overall, ‘House of Gucci’ is an engaging exploration of the Gucci Fashion Empire in its earlier days, following the clashes, conniving and surprising turns that followed an unexpected marriage which all helped lead to the version of the company that the world knows today. Embracing the over the top nature of this true tale and even taking things to an almost campy place at times, yet always making it work remarkably well for the story; with an outstanding performance by Lady Gaga at the forefront that alone makes this one worth a watch. ‘House of Gucci’ is definitely recommended, especially for fans of filmmaker Ridley Scott and any/all of the key cast. For those of you who are looking forward to it but haven’t yet had the pleasure it should prove well worth your time and the cost of a rental.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘House of Gucci’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation with the film’s original 2.39:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks fantastic as a whole and provides a clean, rich and nicely detailed presentation from start to finish with no unexpected problems arising along the way. It holds up impressively well even during the various darkly lit and heavily populated moments throughout, never causing anything that’s occurring onscreen to become negatively affected, let alone rendered indiscernible. Overall, this is a pretty great high definition video presentation that shouldn’t have any trouble satisfying first time viewers as well as fans.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a 7.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This multichannel soundtrack makes a splendid complement to the onscreen excitement, delivering a crisp, clean and at times quite immersive audio presentation throughout. It repeatedly takes advantage of all seven available channels in order to send the great musical selections booming throughout the various speakers, along with bits of crowd chatter, vehicle activity and plenty more. All while never allowing any dialogue or other audio elements that may be occurring simultaneously to become distorted or rendered inaudible in the process. Overall, this is a solid 7.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack that sounds sharp, clean and on point throughout.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘House of Gucci’ includes a few enjoyable extras in the way of some Behind the Scenes Featurettes that include interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus behind the scenes footage and more. The included Featurettes are ‘The Rise of the House of Gucci: Making Of’ (running approximately 10 minutes in length), ‘The Lady of the House’ (running approximately 5 minutes) and ‘Styling House of Gucci’ (approximately 5 minutes).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 7/10

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‘House Of Gucci’ is Now Available to Own on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from MGM & Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

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