Very High Fashion

Sigmund Freud is supposed to have said, "No one knows what women want." But in Valentino: The Last Emperor, the eponymous fashion designer is quite clear. "I know what women want," he says. "They want to be beautiful." Ouch! Or not, since he's spent his life making women beautiful — that's how some people define a career in haute couture, anyway. The film finds Valentino and his constant companion, Giancarlo Giammetti, retiring from said 45-year career amid a possibly hostile corporate takeover of the company; times, it seems, are changing. And yes, the excesses of Valentino's life will sicken many people (especially those whose 401Ks are now .401Ks), but the film pokes gentle fun at him, and his own ego may be pearl-encrusted, but it isn't steel-plated, as he tells the camera, "This was the best thing, for me to create dresses. I am a disaster in everything else." Filmmaker Matt Tyrnauer appears at the April 3 9:40 p.m. screening and the April 4 12:10 p.m. screening.
April 3-June 11, 2009