Educational Media Reviews Online

Celebration is a documentary about the fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and takes a look at his final years. The unedited filming style takes a behind the scene look of the Paris House the designer worked in. Scenes between seamstresses and other employees of this fashion company can be seen completing daily tasks and talking to one another.

While this film is described as being about Yves Saint Laurent, there is very little footage of him. If there is footage it takes on a dark tone, with black and white footage, and a low sound in the background that is almost unsettling. This might have been done on purpose to show the designer's lack of involvement in his final years. Prior to the new release of this film, the first showing of this film was the last. Yves Saint Laurent's partner did not allow the film to be shown because of the portrayal of Yves Saint Laurent. While I do not think it should have been blocked from viewing, I do see why his partner would not have wanted a negative light on Yves Saint Laurent's name and reputation.

This documentary has no narrator or any edits to help a watcher to distinguish what is important about each scene or who is talking in that scene. This made it very hard to follow and it is very unclear as to the purpose of each scene. I was able to figure out who Yves Saint Laurent was and that he had a dog.

While this documentary showed a very raw and unedited look at the life of Yves Saint Laurent and the fashion industry, I would not recommend it because of the lack of narration to help understand the purpose and points of each scene. A fashion student who knows more about this designer, his final shows, and his design style might find this more useful and insightful. For anyone else I do not think this would provide much information in either the designer or the fashion industry.