Film Review: The Gospel According To Andre

Documentaries about iconic personalities in the fashion world are always popular, and with good reason. The industry, with its mix of creativity, celebrity and luxurious beauty, offers cinematic indulgence aplenty, while the mix of divas, tortured geniuses and straight-talking stylists and editors allows for in-depth character studies.

Andre Leon Talley seems like the perfect subject for such a film. The former editor-at-large of Vogue, Talley is now known for his passion, charisma, fierce-but-tender personality, and his flamboyant style – you’ve never seen a cape until it’s worn by this 6’6 powerhouse.

But Talley’s journey to success is even more intriguing than the man himself. The challenges facing a gay black man from the American south who fashioned himself as a bon vivant cannot be overstated. That he became an indispensable figure among the Paris and New York fashion elites is a story worth telling.

Director Kate Novack seems too enamoured and intimidated by Talley to delve deep, however. Her affectionate portrait is a tad too cosy, letting Talley’s witty, joyous personality shine – without challenging him to let the act fall. There are brief moments that hint at the complexities of his inner life: Talley revealing the racist monikers that plagued him throughout his early career; the fact that he’s perpetually single; and his tearful regret that his grandmother didn’t live to see Michelle Obama on the cover of Vogue. But Novack never pushes for deeper context, either personally or politically.

This gospel may be joyous and uplifting, but it could have used more depth and soul.

3/5