A mantelpiece is
strewn with a dozen iPods and hundreds of chunky silver
rings. Drawers are full of starched shirt collars. Piles of
books stretch skyward like teetering Towers of Pisa.
This close-up
look at Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld's lavish life is
shown in Lagerfeld Confidential, a new French
movie condensing two years of the ponytailed designer's
frenetic activity into an hour and a half of riveting
film.
But despite the
movie's focus on the fashion world's most enigmatic icon,
Lagerfeld remains shrouded in mystery.
Like a shadow,
the camera trails Lagerfeld -- who also designs for
Italian luxury brand Fendi and his own eponymous label -- as
he churns out hurried sketches, takes a victory lap on
the catwalk to thundering applause, jets to Monaco and
New York, and shoots hunky male models clad only in
strategically placed fur.
While present in
nearly every shot, Lagerfeld remains distant, aloof, and
ultimately unknowable behind his signature dark shades.
''I don't want to
be a reality in people's lives,'' Lagerfeld tells the
camera in one scene. ''I want to be a ghost.''
The movie, which
opens in France next week and is set for U.S. release
later this month, is the product of a two-year collaboration
between Lagerfeld and Rodolphe Marconi, a dashing
young French director who shot more than 300 hours of
footage of Lagerfeld at work and play.
Marconi said it
was Lagerfeld's hard public image that drew him to the
designer.
''I was sure
there was a real human behind'' the facade, Marconi
told the Associated Press in a telephone interview.
''I wanted to show it.''
In some scenes,
Marconi just about pulls it off.
We see Lagerfeld
do things that regular people do, such as chow down on
his version of a TV dinner: a chef-prepared meal served in
his hotel room. In another scene, the 69-year-old
designer beams with childlike glee as he tries on a
gold lame baseball jacket at a Christian Dior
boutique.
But mostly he is
impenetrable, shooting off pointed, witty remarks in his
rapid-fire French to his ever-present, adoring entourage.
''Ohh! Ahh,'' coo
the members of his inner circle in one scene, as
Lagerfeld shows off his photos of a male model.
Marconi, a
31-year-old actor-turned-director behind three full-length
fiction films, often comes off as yet another Lagerfeld
lackey. He rushes to open the car door for Lagerfeld,
guffaws loudly at his jokes, and nearly drips
obsequiousness toward the designer.
In their
one-on-one interviews, Marconi tiptoes around the hard
questions, asking Lagerfeld about his childhood and
sexuality with a trepidation so palpable that on one
occasion an exasperated Lagerfeld scolds him for it.
''You either see
[what you want to ask] more clearly or we'll go on to
another subject,'' he says abruptly.
Asked about his
love life, Lagerfeld skirts the question and instead
criticizes domestic-partnership laws in France. He keeps
personal revelations to a minimum, referring obliquely
to a ''tragedy'' -- Lagerfeld had a widely known
relationship with a French aristocrat who died of AIDS
in 1989 -- but going no further.
Lagerfeld Confidential pounds home his motto,
carpe diem, with about as much subtlety as a sledgehammer.
Again and again, Lagerfeld proclaims he has no ties to
the past and lives only for the present moment.
''If it was
really better before, then we should all just kill ourselves
right away,'' he says with characteristic dryness.
Marconi said when
he approached Lagerfeld with his movie proposal, the
designer's assistant told him ''more than 100 people'' had
already asked permission to make such a film.
Marconi said he
was not sure why Lagerfeld chose him: ''Perhaps because I
didn't go into it with an agenda.''
Lagerfeld gained
a reputation by reviving a flagging Chanel after taking
over in 1982, and in 2004 designed a collection for Swedish
fast-fashion retailer H&M that made his work
available to customers with smaller purses. In a sign
of his celebrity status, Lagerfeld released a CD of his
favorite songs and a weight-loss guide, The Karl
Lagerfeld Diet, filled with the secrets that allowed
him to shed 80 pounds.
Lagerfeld said
Marconi's film ''ended up annoying me.''
''Let's say that
Rodolphe Marconi was able to observe and capture what I
wanted to play for him,'' he was quoted as saying in French
Vogue. ''It's not that I lie, it's that I don't
owe the truth to anyone. After all, I'm not facing a judge,
but a director.''
Asked whether he
thought he had gotten to know Lagerfeld, Marconi said,
''I have the feeling I know him now ... though in truth, you
never really know anyone.'' (AP)
