Love is hell : from Luchino Visconti’s Ludwig to Bertrand Bonello’s Saint Laurent

Abstract

This dissertation will be concerned with the manner in which particular film auteurs, namely Luchino Visconti in Ludwig (1972) and Bertrand Bonello in Saint Laurent (2014), have attempted to render onscreen the biographies of such notable figures. The study will depart from the consideration that such works are limited by their very nature, primarily, by the fact that they seek to present portraits of actual, well-recognised figures but are also liberated by the fact that, in all cases, the actual subjects were really enigmatic figures about whom very little is in actual fact known. The stylistic devices adopted by the respective directors in order to render onscreen, above all, the emotions of their subjects rather than their actions in real life will be duly analysed as well as the manner in which these auteurs have really drawn inspiration from the works of classical and modernist authors such as Gabriele D’Annunzio, Virginia Woolf and Marcel Proust. The study therefore seeks to question the extent to which the directors’ interest really lies in the characters presented as evidence of a bigger truth, by way of identification with their own personal history or the history of the actors portraying such figures. The dissertation will clearly not be concerned with analysing the actual, real-life protagonists of these biopics but will necessarily consider the manner in which the respective directors have opted to transpose reality into fiction through an impressionistic reassessment of the biopic genre. The study will thus seek to answer the question as to how Visconti and Bonello retained and even safeguarded the intrinsic mystery and fascination of their protagonists whilst, at the same time, appearing to be attempting to unlock the same mystery. The thesis will be majorly concerned with psycho-analysing the protagonists of these movies, synthetically, to the extent of considering the manner in which the respective portraits are constructed, as well as thematically, by attempting to deconstruct these portraits with reference to a study of love as a source of melancholia within the queer male imaginary. The study will seek to prove that it is the experience and understanding of love as absence which renders these dark princes eventually unable to establish an intimate emotional connection with others, which leads them to lead an essentially hermetic existence and eventually to lock themselves up in their ivory towers.