Film

Yves Saint Laurent

Name: Yves Saint Laurent
Genre: Drama
Released: 2014
Cast: Pierre Niney, Guillaume Gallienne, Nikolai Kinski, Charlotte Le Bon, Xavier Lafitte

Biopic

A portrait of Yves Saint Laurent's rise from obscurity to fashion icon, from 1958 onward. It's intimate without being gossipy, focused on the creative partnership with Pierre Bergé and the personal toll of genius. Visually sumptuous—you're watching fabric, silhouettes, the birth of a vision. For anyone who cares about fashion, ambition, or how two people can build something impossible together.

TMDb rating

3.3

If you liked this

The Devil Wears Prada2006

Sharp, propulsive look at high fashion's inner workings. Meryl Streep is brilliant as Miranda Priestly, and the film understands both the world's shallow appeal and its genuine creative stakes.

But It's glossier and more comedic than YSL. If you want seriousness, this skates too close to satire.

Phantom Thread2017

Paul Thomas Anderson's obsessive portrait of a brilliant couturier consumed by his work and a complicated marriage. Gorgeous, strange, psychologically dense. Daniel Day-Lewis is mesmerizing as a man undone by perfectionism.

But Slower than YSL and weirder. Some find it airless and cold rather than moving.

La traviata1982

Pina Bausch's 1992 dance adaptation of the opera uses sumptuous costume and movement instead of dialogue to explore passion, beauty, and ruin. Operatic intensity without the distance of traditional staging.

But It's opera, and it's abstract. If you need narrative clarity, this will frustrate you.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Yves Saint Laurent

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Singin' in the Rain1952

Both are about the moment when an art form transforms utterly, and the brilliant, sometimes damaged people at the center of that shift.

Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor in a film about the death of silent cinema and the chaos of reinvention. The musical form—pure movement, pure style—captures artistic ambition and creative partnership the way fashion documentaries cannot.

But It's a musical from 1952. If you expect realism or contemporary dialogue, you'll be disappointed.

Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky2009

Two artistic giants, a love affair, the 1920s. Intelligent, sensual, explores how creative people can wound each other while making extraordinary things. Keira Knightley and Stéphane Lambiel are superb.

But More romantic melodrama than fashion study. The Chanel moments are secondary to the affair.

I Am Love2010

Guadagnino's baroque study of a woman reinventing herself through a powerful attraction. Italian high fashion, claustrophobic family dynamics, and visual beauty so intense it becomes almost unbearable.

But Deliberately slow and cryptic. The fashion elements are subtext, not the main event.

In the Fade2017

Fatih Akin's portrait of a woman destroyed by sudden violence and her pursuit of justice. Diane Kruger gives one of cinema's great performances. It's about one person's world collapsing and how she survives it.

But Brutally sad. There's no beauty or glamour here, and watching grief in close-up is hard.

A Single Man2009

Tom Ford's direction (he was a designer too) brings severe visual control and melancholic elegance to Christopher Isherwood's story of a man contemplating suicide after his lover's death. Colin Firth is heartbreaking.

But Extremely slow. Some will find it precious—the aestheticization of grief can feel cold.

The Danish Girl2015

Eddie Redmayne as Lili Elbe, a pioneering trans woman and artist. A love story between two painters, a life-changing self-discovery, handsomely shot in 1920s Copenhagen. Emotional and visually rich.

But The script is more conventional than the subject deserves. Some critics felt it softened and romanticized the actual historical struggles.

Midnight in Paris2011

Woody Allen's fantasy of the 1920s Paris art and fashion scene. Charming, funny, and full of period detail and creative giants. If you love the aesthetic of that era, this celebrates it joyfully.

But Whimsical rather than serious. It's a love letter to nostalgia, which some find vapid.

Poison1991

A chronicle of closeted genius and hidden desire, told through style and artifice rather than confession. Haynes understands queer coded aesthetics the way Chereau understands fashion's power.

Todd Haynes' three-part queer masterpiece—part melodrama, part science fiction, part documentary confession. Shot in styles from different eras, it's a love letter to gay culture and desire. Aesthetically audacious and genuinely moving.

But Experimental structure and explicit content. No linear narrative, fragmented storytelling, and sex scenes that shocked in 1991.

Women in Love1969

Both explore the mutual destruction and creation between two brilliant people bound by desire and artistic vision. The aestheticism is not separate from the emotion—it's how the emotion lives.

Ken Russell's D.H. Lawrence adaptation: lush, erotic, intense. Two couples entangled in desire and ambition in 1920s England. Oliver Reed and Alan Bates are magnetic. It's about the price of passion and artistic temperament.

But Very explicit for 1969. The nudity, sexuality, and emotional intensity are overwhelming. Russell's style is baroque and operatic—some find it self-indulgent.