Becoming Karl Lagerfeld series debuts in Paris Rex

Finally, a whole series about fashion’s most famous designer as Becoming Karl Lagerfeld debuted Tuesday night in the Rex cinema in Paris.
 

With a large cohort of Chanel staffers and keen Karl collaborators sitting inside the famed Egyptian style cinema, the first two episodes of the six-part series was unspooled before an expectant audience.
 
Though Lagerfeld has appeared in multiple documentaries, this Disney-produced series marks the third significant interpretation of the German born designer in recent years. And, quite frankly, the performance of Hispano-German Daniel Brühl in Becoming Karl Lagerfeld is far more convincing than the interpretations seen in the two biopics of Yves Saint Laurent or Saint Laurent, both released in 2014.

Brühl, whose prior important credits include Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds and Rush, where he portrays Formula One champion Niki Lauda, certainly manages to capture Lagerfeld’s energy, steeliness and calculating mind.
 
The first two episodes concern Lagerfeld’s life long before he became artistic director of Chanel, the most important role in a remarkable career. He is seen as a gun for hire, which is what he ultimately always remained, driving around Paris in his blue Rolls Royce delivering sketches to everyone from Chloé to an underwear label. Carefully locking the Rolls at every stop.

As is well known, Lagerfeld spent his life in eternal competition with Yves Saint Laurent (Arnaud Valois). Both exploded onto the scene in November 1954 when Karl won the International Wool Secretariat design prize for a coat, Yves for a dress. Initially friends, they gradually fell out, especially as Saint Laurent’s star rose far in advance of Lagerfeld’s. By 1957, when he was just 21, Saint Laurent had already succeeded Christian Dior as the designer of that legendary house.
 
When the action begins in 1972, Lagerfeld is particularly offended that Saint Laurent does not write him a personal note inviting him to his 10th anniversary show. Nonetheless, he attends with his romantic interest Jacques de Bascher (played by Théodore Pellerin), who had first spotted the designer in a club on rue Sainte-Anne. De Bascher, as is well known, becomes the apple of discord after he has an affair with Saint Laurent, leading to eternal enmity between the two fashion giants.
 
In parallel, through the Seventies Karl’s reputation soars as his revolutionary designs at Chloé made him into a highly influential designer, funding  the most opulent lifestyle of any creator in Paris.
 

What’s best about Karl Lagerfeld is how it captures the look of the era; Karl’s Hilditch & Key shirts and debonair tailoring; the concisely recreated debut runway collection of Chloé or Saint Laurent’s Left Bank remarkable apartment. Those of us who had the pleasure to visit Yves’ home could only marvel at its art and antique collection, whose contents his partner Pierre Bergé (Alex Lutz) ultimately sold for some €400 million.
 
The series ends in 1981 in Monaco, before Karl even dreamed of entering Chanel. Indeed, at a hyper melodramatic dinner early on with Yves, Pierre and Jacques, Karl disdainfully refers to the house of Chanel as “dead” and “old-fashioned.” Remarks that cause Chanel staffers present to wince.
 
All told, Becoming Karl Lagerfeld is a stylishly acidic romp through the life of a truly unique polyglot genius. Even if Brühl does not capture the machine gun stream of consciousness of Karl, which made him into the wittiest man in Paris since Oscar Wilde. Who could really?
 
Becoming Karl Lagerfeld will appear on French TV screens starting June 7.