House of Gucci                  4 stars

The movie to see this week is the true crime drama House of Gucci, Ridley Scott’s take on the treachery and backstabbing that went on in the family handbag business of Gucci from the seventies to the nineties. Much of the movie is about the squabbles and double crosses over the differences of opinion on how to run the family business. But the thing that really makes the movie is Lady Gaga’s performance as Patrizia Reggiani, the daughter of a middle-class business owner who married Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver) and then forces her own ideas of running the business on others with dire consequences for everyone involved. The story develops slowly but gets progressively more interesting with each move turning one family member against another. Al Pacino is his usual convincing self as Aldo Gucci, one of the two brothers that are the primary owners of Gucci. Jared Leto is unrecognizable as Paolo Gucci, the clueless cousin of Maurizio who falls victim to Patrizia’s schemes. I was not familiar with the story of the Gucci empire and you will probably be better off not knowing the background before seeing the movie. With every scene she is in, Lady Gaga proves that she deserves the title of movie star as she determines the mood of the film throughout. She proves that her performance in A Star is Born from four years ago was no fluke.