Pierre Thoretton's lugubrious portrait of the late Yves Saint Laurent (he died in 2008) begins with a 2002 press conference in which the iconic designer announced his retirement from the world of fashion. "I tell myself," he says, "that I have taken part in the transformation of my times." And so he did, but don't expect to learn how or why or to what end from this documentary. Instead, Thoretton focuses on Pierre Bergé, Saint Laurent's surviving partner, who reminisces as the collection of artwork the two amassed over five decades is crated up and shipped off to auction. The intercut archival photos and clips of the highpoints of Saint Laurent's design career offer vivid glimpses of his genius, but Bergé doesn't add much insight, even though his recollections of YSL's bouts with depression and addiction are affecting. "I don't have a soul," Bergé laments as a Brancusi sculpture is packed away. "These objects don't have a soul." Neither does this movie.
