Valentino: The Last Emperor 2008

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The filmmaker's access was impressive, the results moderately entertaining. Read more

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader: Part celebrity dish, part business journalism...illuminating 2008 documentary. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Seldom has a film explored such exotica as Valentino's world -- the gowns, the galas, the villas, the private jets, the redundant pugs...with such a sense of momentous drama behind the glitz. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: [A] frothily entertaining documentary. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: From Valentino Garavani's imperious carriage and diva fits to his coterie of tiny dogs, the subject of Tyrnauer's doc comes off like a fictional character, scripted by a writer with a weakness for cliche. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: True to the Valentino prerogative, it's beautiful -- sad, too: a dream life moving into the unknown. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: It's a celebration worthy of the Sun King and a fitting way for both the designer and this unexpectedly involving documentary to literally and metaphorically bring it all back home. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: This love letter to Valentino from director Matt Tyrnauer seems intended for the already smitten. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Matt Tyrnauer's sharp-eyed documentary Valentino: The Last Emperor follows the luxury-loving pooh-bah and his indispensable, since-forever lover and business partner, Giancarlo Giammetti, through a season of magical dresses and minor diva snits. Read more

Marta Barber, Miami Herald: Tyrnauer succeeds in making a documentary in which man and his creations are one and the same. Yes, Valentino lives in opulence, but his gowns exist in that stratosphere too. Read more

Joseph M. Amodio, Newsday: This documentary, chronicling two years leading up to his spectacular 45th anniversary gala in 2007 by the Colosseum in Rome, is as much about the brand and harsh realities of the fashion biz as the man himself. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Lively and affectionate, Matt Tyrnauer's documentary is made for those who believe, as he does, that the work of fashion designer Valentino is worthy of the most respectful chronicle. Read more

V.A. Musetto, New York Post: Valentino: The Last Emperor makes no attempt at being a definitive portrait of Valentino. It is content to be a breezy look at the designer's twilight years. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Valentino: The Last Emperor is a documentary with privileged access to the legendary designer in his studio, workshop, backstage, his homes, even aboard his yacht and private jet. Read more

Sylvia Rubin, San Francisco Chronicle: A thoroughly entertaining look at the preparations for Valentino's last haute couture show and how, indeed, he represents the last of an era of highly trained couturiers who are being swallowed up by mergers and acquisitions. Read more

Kara Nesvig, Minneapolis Star Tribune: As Valentino's team of seamstresses pore over a sequined white dress, entirely hand-sewn, and finally premiere it to the designer in its flawless, couture glory, it's all you can do not to gasp with pleasure. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: This up-close portrait delivers all the runway glamor and backstage gossip that fashionistas crave, yet it's also unexpectedly poignant. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Superficial but giddily entertaining. Read more

Jason Anderson, Toronto Star: There's only one monarch mentioned in the title of Valentino: The Last Emperor. But Matt Tyrnauer's breezy and entertaining look inside the world of high fashion is very much a two-man show. Read more

Hank Sartin, Time Out: Read more

Karina Longworth, Time Out: Read more

Melissa Anderson, Village Voice: Tyrnauer's [film] extols Valentino's extreme lavishness as a kind of honorable, defiant stance (sneaking away to Gstaad as investment bankers take over his company), but demurs from searching for its subject's gravitas. Read more