From fashion’s pinnacle to profound depths: The story of John Galliano

The director juxtaposes this with a moment where Galliano, now a successful fashion designer, clad in a pink T-shirt that says “gorgeous”, walks the ramp with a couple of women. It is particularly provocative for the blink-and-you-miss-it way in which Kevin presents it, much like how he addresses Idi Amin’s meat-eater reputation in The Last King of Scotland.

By this time, the film leaves you engrossed in its world-building, full of dramatic lighting that highlights the models and their garments, the clicking of camera shutters, and the energetic background music. For a good part, watching the film is like being on the front row of a fashion show.

Things become uncomfortably quiet after a sudden revelation: Galliano’s anti-Semitic comments and his subsequent fall from grace. Kevin, however, never leans too much towards or away from his subject. At the start, editor Edward Enninful calls Galliano the “rock and roll of fashion”, and the film also involves everyone from Charlize Theron to Penélope Cruz showering him with praise. But, it never restricts its subject to adulation; it also calls him out for what he did, and does a good job of showing how fame gets to his head, how he becomes addicted to his job, and how he unravels emotionally. It brings you closer to celebrities, reinforcing the fact that they are, after all, human.

High & Low-John Galliano

Director: Kevin MacDonald

Genre: Biopic

Platform: MUBI

Language: English

Rating: 3/5