Admittedly, historians are not generally noted for their fashion leadership indeed, should they linger too long on park benches, some distinguished professors at our great universities could be mistaken for tramps. Frankly this looks to an untrained eye like a load of grown women dressed up as organ-grinders' monkeys. In what is supposed to be a triumphal moment, he sends models down a catwalk in jewelled bolero waistcoats, bell-sleeved shirts, enormous puffy trousers and big furry hats. The film attempts to dredge up what it can of a narrative drive from the Slough of Despond in which it has mired itself, but all it can find is Saint Laurent's 1976 Russian ballet and opera collection. Yves falls ill, and squabbles with Pierre. It doesn't help, because they have boring drugs and boring sex, and anyway there is simply no tension left in the story. To relieve the boredom, everybody does drugs and has sex with each other. Their conversation is desperately dull and self-regarding. The characters you may have given a damn about – Pierre and Yves – are submerged by a tide of pointless, flimsy hangers-on, who can only be of interest to the nerdiest of fashion nerds. Unfortunately, it is disastrous for the film. This is great news for Yves, who is suddenly surrounded by all the wealth, beauty and glamour he could want - a glittering world immaculately recreated by an exceptional team of production and costume designers. In 1965, Yves comes up with his Mondrian collection – cocktail dresses inspired by the lines and colours of Dutch abstract painter Piet Mondrian – and hits the big time. Yves Saint Laurent models, and muse Betty Catroux wears le smoking Debauchery If you want to know more about the Algerian war, turn this fluff off and watch The Battle of Algiers – truly a classic of historical film-making. It is taken as read here that the real tragedy of French colonialism in Africa was that it ended. There is no doubt Saint Laurent's experience was awful for him personally, but it's striking that the film avoids any wider engagement with the situation in Algeria – aside from showing the famille Saint Laurent's great sadness at having to leave when the rebels win. The film hints at his treatment being counterproductive: it consisted of drug and electroshock therapy. He was, as the film shows, moved to a military psychiatric hospital.
Saint Laurent lasted only 20 days in the army before suffering a collapse during his induction. But their honeymoon ends abruptly when Yves is conscripted to serve in the Algerian war. The relationship's complexities are performed beautifully and subtly by Niney and Gallienne. The film's scenes of the two men's courtship are sweet, understated and touching, as the painfully shy Yves is coaxed out of his shell by the quietly forceful Pierre. Guillaume Gallienne, left, as Pierre Bergé and Pierre Niney as Yves Saint Laurent Romance
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