There’s a moment in Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci that sums up the glorious excess of this true-life tale of a woman scorned.
“We’ve run out of spells,” mutters Lady Gaga’s Patrizia Reggiani. “We need something stronger.”
She’s sitting in a mud bath, surrounded by candles, alongside her cat-loving, fortune-telling guru Pina (Salma Hayek).
They are plotting the cold-blooded downfall of her husband Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver), the lawyer who has gradually wrestled control of the famed Italian fashion empire from his relatives. You couldn’t make this up.
Based on Sara Gay Forden’s book The House of Gucci: A True Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed, this is Scott’s second movie in as many months, after his multi-perspective medieval tale, The Last Duel, which also starred Driver.
That took itself a mite too seriously. This does not.
As the story unfolds, the fashions – and the performances – become increasingly gauche. But Scott stylishly draws you into an operatic story of familial treachery, one that comes embossed in gold leaf.
It’s certainly more energetic than Scott’s previous study of the obscenely rich – 2017’s All The Money In The World, which peered into the exclusive world of billionaire oil tycoon J Paul Getty.
Filled with pop hits from the 1970s and ’80s, from Donna Summer’s I Feel Love to Blondie’s Heart of Glass and David Bowie’s Ashes To Ashes, this is as close as Scott has come to making a disco movie.
It's something akin to Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights, as greed, ambition and venal vengeance are stirred into an intoxicating cauldron.
Singer-turned-actress Gaga is undoubtedly the film’s secret weapon as the power-hungry Patrizia, who first spies the shy, awkward Maurizio at a party in Milan in 1978. He makes her a drink and they dance but then he walks away. That doesn’t deter her.
She tracks him to where he’s studying law and doesn’t let go. Soon, Maurizio’s father Rodolfo (Jeremy Irons) pronounces she’s after the family money, causing a rift with his son, who defies him and marries her.
It’s only when his uncle Aldo (Al Pacino) heals wounds and lures them to New York on the Concorde that they work their way back into the family fold.
Gaga’s character isn’t quite the get-rich-quick gold-digger Rodolfo imagines, but she is increasingly enamoured with the exotic lifestyle being a Gucci can afford and becomes keen to imprint her stamp on the company.
As the film lurches into the Eighties, and rival brands such Versace and Ralph Lauren seem daring by comparison to the staid Gucci, nobody quite knows how to move things forward. Certainly not Aldo’s “idiot” son Paolo (Jared Leto), an extravagant oaf with delusions of grandeur and a desperate desire to design.
Balding and moustachioed, Leto is caked here under more make-up than when he played the Joker in Suicide Squad, with some impressive prosthetics giving him jowls almost as thick as his Italian accent.
His dialogue is to die for.
“I could soar like a pigeon,” he cries at one point, when Patrizia promises him a chance to design his own fashion line for Gucci – a turning point in the film that sets her at odds with the quietly calculating Maurizio.
Dressed in purple and with flowers in his lapels, the flamboyant, foppish Paolo is the court jester in the Gucci family, though when Leto and Pacino get going, it’s a true contest to see who can chew more of the ornate, gilt-edged furniture in the palazzo settings.
Their scenes are among the best, giving House of Gucci a comical edge that never quite returns when they’re sidelined in the story and Maurizio and Patrizia’s ailing marriage takes centre stage.
Driver’s performance is one of reserve; it’s almost impossible to tell what he’s thinking – beyond when he first professes his love for Patrizia to his father.
Indeed, his best scenes also come early, when he’s arguing with Rodolfo, a former actor who went into the fashion business with his brother Aldo, but really sits alone and mourns the loss of his movie-star wife, Maurizio’s mother.
Those who are expecting an undulating tale of a fashion house resurrected will be disappointed, although the film does touch on the arrival of Tom Ford (Reeve Carney) and Domenico De Sole (Jack Huston), the two men that turned Gucci into a multibillion-dollar giant.
There is also a convincing turn from Moroccan-British actor Youssef Kerkour, who plays Nemir Kirdar, the Iraqi-Turkish businessman who invested heavily in Gucci at just the right moment.
This being a film where ostentatious displays of wealth are everything, the costumes by Scott’s regular designer Janty Yates are marvellous.
Gaga gets the best of them, looking dreamy in an array of couture-wear – the best surely being a cherry-red all-in-one outfit she wears on the ski slopes as she’s delivering a "back off" speech to Paola Franchi (Call My Agent’s Camille Cottin), who is angling to get her claws into Maurizio.
The bloody shade of the costume is a perfect foreshadowing of what’s to come.
If House of Gucci disappoints, it’s in the final act. The film runs to 158 minutes – its overlong running time hardly a surprise, given that everything else herein is overblown – and it can’t quite sustain the momentum all the way to the end.
Scott also can’t help himself in depicting Italy with nuns, gelato, espresso, soccer, opera – you name it, just about every Italian cliche is nailed on. Yet none of this distracts too much in a film that prides itself on grand, sweeping gestures.
Emotionally, House of Gucci doesn’t quite land, but it’s an enjoyable romp led by Gaga, who most certainly deserves some awards love this season for her performance.
If nothing else, it whisks you across the high-spots of Europe, as if you were watching a Grace Kelly movie.
One thing’s for sure, despite the criminality on display, it won’t ruin the Guccis' reputation one jot.
“The Vatican of fashion”, as Maurizio calls them, will probably gain a few more worshippers after this film drops.
House of Gucci is in UAE cinemas from December 2
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
THE BIO:
Favourite holiday destination: Thailand. I go every year and I’m obsessed with the fitness camps there.
Favourite book: Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. It’s an amazing story about barefoot running.
Favourite film: A League of their Own. I used to love watching it in my granny’s house when I was seven.
Personal motto: Believe it and you can achieve it.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Results:
2.15pm: Handicap (PA) Dh60,000 1,200m.
Winner: AZ Dhabyan, Adam McLean (jockey), Saleha Al Ghurair (trainer).
2.45pm: Maiden (PA) Dh60,000 1,200m.
Winner: Ashton Tourettes, Sam Hitchcott, Ibrahim Aseel.
3.15pm: Conditions (PA) Dh60,000 2,000m.
Winner: Hareer Al Reef, Gerald Avranche, Abdallah Al Hammadi.
3.45pm: Maiden (PA) Dh60,000 1,700m.
Winner: Kenz Al Reef, Gerald Avranche, Abdallah Al Hammadi.
4.15pm: Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Cup (TB) Dh 200,000 1,700m.
Winner: Mystique Moon, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson.
4.45pm: The Crown Prince Of Sharjah Cup Prestige (PA) Dh200,000 1,200m.
Winner: ES Ajeeb, Sam Hitchcott, Ibrahim Aseel.
RESULT
Wolves 1 (Traore 67')
Tottenham 2 (Moura 8', Vertonghen 90 1')
Man of the Match: Adama Traore (Wolves)
WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
The specs: 2019 Audi A7 Sportback
Price, base: Dh315,000
Engine: 3.0-litre V6
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 335hp @ 5,000rpm
Torque: 500Nm @ 1,370rpm
Fuel economy 5.9L / 100km
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
More on Quran memorisation:
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
