Yves Saint Laurent film premieres in Paris

The film premiered in Paris last night, to an intimate audience of fashion veterans including Sonia Rykiel and Yves Saint Laurent muses Betty Catroux and Loulou de la Falaise, as well as Bergé himself. The businessman and long term partner of Saint Laurent gave his blessing to the film in an interview this week, despite a depiction of himself that is not always complimentary:

“It is not flattering. It is a very honest movie, which is important because Yves's story had its ups and downs.” The famously fiery Bergé rejected comparisons with the recent Valentino documentary 'The Last Emperor', retorting “I prefer we do not talk about other designers, we are not at the same level, we are not talking about the same thing...In French, we say, 'you do not mix napkins with rags'.”

Indeed, ' L'Amour Fou' (which translates as 'crazy love') focuses on the aftermath of the designer's death in 2008, rather than his life, from the sale of the astonishing art collection accumulated by Saint Laurent and Bergé during their life together, to the "devastation" of the latter upon bereavement.

The documentary was pieced together by Director Pierre Thoretton from over 2,000 hours of footage, much of it unseen.