The 90s aesthetic
On House of Gucci, Quietness, Sunlight and Intrigue
I suspect this newsletter will contain a lot of Adam Driver as it evolves. I first spotted the very tall, and very awkward Adam Driver playing Lena Dunham’s boyfriend in the HBO show Girls (2010). And then I didn’t see him for a while on screen. And then as the quietly intense theatre genius in Noam Baumbach’s Marriage Story (2019), and then again in The Report (2019) as a CIA internal corruption investigator. Again quiet, intense, eyes speaking more than words. Adam Driver’s good looks, stubborn mouth, and quiet resolve are things I can go on about. But it is important to acknowledge, at this point, the marvellousness of House of Gucci, Ridley Scott’s latest masterpiece as tribute to the 90s aesthetic. More importantly, it is imperative that I acknowledge, here, the marvellousness of Lady Gaga in the film.
Lady Gaga is literally the centrepiece, the fulcrum of intrigue in the film. She wears dark glasses, high boots, big 80s/90s hair, and a never-say-die attitude on her shoulders. There is a lot of Europe in the film, and Gaga fits right into Europe as a canvas of love/hate/ambition/intrigue. A young woman from a truck-owning family makes it in with the Guccis, having married Maurizio Gucci (played by Driver). She is calm and yet restless. Her eyes are constantly darting. Her gait is anxious. Her expressions move between tenderness, obsession, grit and revenge. I don’t know much about Lady Gaga and had least expectations of her, with the posters of the film hit the internet. I can’t say I have heard any of her music or seen her on screen before. But Ridley Scott made a very wise choice, the verdict is clear on that.
The film, further, makes the 90s looks like a Period of Historical Time. For a 90s kid like me, the 90s was yesterday. Apparently not. With dial-phones, big hair, leather jackets, slick cars, high drama, dappled sunlight, and Driver’s stubborn smile, the 90s are apparently a thing now. A thing of historical, to be admired from the luxury of distance. And I am apparently, officially, old.