House of Versace
House of Versace
| 04 October 2013 (USA)
House of Versace Trailers

Based on Wall Street Journal reporter Deborah Ball’s widely-read book "House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder, and Survival", the movie brings to light the story of Donatella, who, following the brazen murder of her brother, world-renowned designer Gianni Versace (Colantoni) at the height of his success, is suddenly thrust into the spotlight as head designer of his fashion empire. At first ridiculed by critics worldwide, Donatella falls victim to drug addiction and nearly bankrupts the company. With the help of her family, including daughter Allegra, Aunt Lucia (Welch) and brother Santo (Feore), she enters rehab to confront her demons and soon comes back stronger than ever to re-ignite the beloved Versace brand with her own vision and builds one of the most powerful and influential fashion houses ever known.

Reviews
Majorthebys

Charming and brutal

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Solidrariol

Am I Missing Something?

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Organnall

Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

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Hadrina

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

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temps_perdu

...that it shows how the mind of a deluded, dumb narcissist works. Every second of this ludicrous "movie" screamed "Donatella was here and controlled everything from the script to the acting and most of all made sure that everything was about HER". The result of this obvious intervention is a complete and utter failure. A script that would've been written better by a mentally impaired child, horrendous acting, homely "models" who couldn't walk or pose, badly, badly recreated clothes and, worst of all, the amateurish direction of Sara Sugarman."House of Versace" is a two-hour masturbation of a stupid and narcissistic woman who has hired (and controlled - badly) a team to make a film about HER (nothing to do with Versace or reality at all). It is a sordid fantasy of a self-absorbed débile, in which she is this perfect creature even in her faults and where everyone exists as an extension of herself, performing the function of adoring her, admiring her and forgiving her when she needs it. Sounds ridiculous? That's because it was. My words fail me to express how ridiculously bad it all was. Cliché after cliché. I give it the lowest rating I can.

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kosmasp

This TV movie based on the Versaces and their "relationship(s)" is nicely told. Of course there is an inciting incident with the husband (you might know what will happen, but it's about the reactions from others, especially his wife that drives this movie along). But we get a lot of other people who are somehow involved in all this.Gina Gershon goes all in with this. And she's not afraid to show darker sides and vulnerability. Actually at times it is hard to feel any sympathy for her Versace (portrayal). But then again, do not forget, she's a human being fighting against adversary. That's not an easy thing to do. It's almost as difficult as a leopard trying to change his spots. A TV movie/drama of the week, based on and around a tragic event

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Shopaholic35

So incredibly impressed with this movie. I had absolutely no idea that Versace came so close to ruin. I question what would have happened to the label if Gianni Versace had of never been killed. Truthfully Donatella and Gianni were a brilliant team despite their volatile sibling relationship. They both made Versace an excellent design house that had so much promise. Gianni was the flamboyant creative visionary and Donatella had the smart editing eye and a stylish outlook. Without each other they crumble.My main problem with the movie was that they glazed over a few key plot lines and didn't take it far enough. The leading theme was Donatella's decline into drug and alcohol addiction but there were so many other aspects they could have explored. Also I think they were pretty kind with brushing over Donatella's plastic surgery history and Allegra's battle with anorexia.Aside from that House of Versace is very insightful and entertaining. I cannot recommend it enough.

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blanche-2

If you like fashion, you might enjoy "The House of Versace," a 2013 Lifetime movie about Donatella Versace's attempts to follow in her late brother's footsteps, and her battle with drugs and alcohol.Versace's high-profile murder at the hands of a serial killer is only touched on. Enrico Colantoni is marvelous as the designer, and it's unfortunate that he only appears in part of the film.Versace is shown to be the genius of the House of Versace, and he and his sister Donatella (Gina Gershon) are interdependent, more so than their brother (Colm Feore) who handles the business side. Donatella is ambitious and wants her own line; while Gianni will defer to her as a stylist and believes some of her ideas are brilliant, HE is the designer and wants it to stay that way. They have some terrible fights but in the end they always reconcile.It might have been during one of these fights that Versace changed his will and left everything to his adored niece, who was something like 13 at the time. Hurt, angry, and unable to keep the House of Versace solvent, Donatella turns to booze and drugs and loses her husband, Paul Beck (Alex Carter) in the bargain. The question is, can she turn the house around so her daughter has anything to inherit? This is not Schindler's List. It's very Lifetime and has a lot of material to cover in two hours, so there's some shorthand involved. We don't, for instance, get much into Versace's death, as mentioned before; nor do we get much insight into his life with his partner, and while we see Donatella cheating once, we don't learn much about her marriage or her husband.Gina Gershon is, of course, much better-looking than Donatella Versace before or after she had her lips blown up, and she gives a good performance here. She is unrecognizable. Racquel Welch is absolutely gorgeous as Aunt Lucia, and I would have loved to have seen more of her.As mentioned in the subject line, this is a totally Canadian production. Colm Feore, who plays the third Versace sibling, is not only one of the best actors around, period, but one of the biggest in Canada - a positively brilliant stage actor who occasionally takes a TV movie for the money.Some nice fashion - again, I could have used more. Is this a fair representation of Donatella? Not sure, but she should have been happy being portrayed by Gershon.

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