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High & Low - John Galliano

2023

Documentary, Self: John Galliano, Anna Wintour, Penélope Cruz ...

6.4

Documentary It traces the career of the prestigious Gibraltar-born fashion designer John Galliano, creative director of Christian Dior between 1996 and 2011. Galliano fell from grace after being arrested in Paris for hurling anti-Semitic insults against a couple in a cafe, and later saw the light a video in which, visibly drunk, said he loved Hitler. Christian Dior fired him in September 2011, marking the beginning of a period in which he was condemned to absolute ostracism. [+]

	Media	Author	Review
		Christian Blauvelt IndieWire	"One of the most riveting rise-fall-redemption story arcs in documentary format in recent memory"
		Niani Scott rogerebert.com	"The ills of the fashion industry headed by near-trillionaire Bernard Arnault are alarming and are articulated pretty clearly by director Kevin Macdonald (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"
		David Rooney The Hollywood Reporter	"Irksomely unsatisfying"
		Fionnuala Halligan Screendaily	"Macdonald's portrait may be empathetic, but it never lets Gibraltar-born Galliano off the hook"
		Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"This film feels constrained by the obvious need to be diplomatic with Galliano and his A-list supporters to whom Macdonald has intimate access (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"
		Stephen Doig Telegraph	"Kevin Macdonald's gripping, star-studded documentary shows how the former Dior superstar unraveled – but struggles to find out why (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Brian Farvour The Playlist	"Even when it tries to swing for the fences as some commentary on what motivates hate speech, it may not always work, but Macdonald does the best with what he's been given, and that’s enough to warrant a look, at least"
		Diego Semerene Slant	"The film shamelessly announces from the very start that it's an attempt at atonement for disgraced designer John Galliano (...) Rating: ★ (out of 4)"
		Tom Shone The Sunday Times	"Kevin Macdonald's thoughtful, probing documentary about the rise and fall of the disgraced designer (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		Dan Mecca The Film Stage	"[It] feels like half a movie––plenty of questions, no answers. It’s the beginning of an intriguing conversation and not much else"
		Wendy Ide The Guardian	"A rich trove of archive footage captures the bottled lightning thrill of Galliano's showmanship, both in the designs and shows for his own label and those for Dior (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Dan Mecca The Film Stage	"[It] feels like half a movie––plenty of questions, no answers. It’s the beginning of an intriguing conversation and not much else"
		Paul Whitington Irish Independent	"[An] absorbing documentary (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Kevin Maher The Times	"The man himself is the star, the villain and, undoubtedly, the draw"

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