Brunello: The Gracious Visionary
Giuseppe Tornatore takes on Italy’s celebrated fashion designer Brunello Cucinelli in a misguided yet memorable biopic.
Image courtesy of Picturehouse Entertainment.
by MANSEL STIMPSON
The nature of this film, a new work from Giuseppe Tornatore who gave us Cinema Paradiso, is such that my rating for it can only be a compromise. Although there are fine things in it, they exist alongside elements which for me at least did not work at all and that conflict makes it impossible to indicate the film’s quality in a meaningful rating. Credit must certainly be given for the look and the sound of the piece. The film’s visuals are great taking full advantage of the wide screen and with wonderful work by the photographer Fabio Zamarion who also shot several other recent films by Tornatore. As for the sound, the veteran composer Nicola Piovani provides a great score which matches perfectly the Italianate nature of the film. Tornatore’s own professionalism is an asset too as he and his editors keep the film flowing throughout a running length of over two hours.
These elements, admirable as they are, can't conceal the fact that this is a film built on a very odd concept. It is a work about Brunello Cucinelli the fashion designer who came from a poor background in the province of Perugia but who subsequently created a worldwide business based initially on colourful cashmere sweaters. So great was his success that he is now a billionaire, but in contrast to most such entrepreneurs he is also noted for how well he treats his workers and for his belief in humanistic capitalism. It is suggested that the latter was an attitude which came about due to his recognition of how harshly his father had been treated in his days as a factory worker. Given that this is the film’s subject matter and that along with Brunello himself members of his family and a whole host of others appear to express their view of him, it would seem natural enough that this film should be credited as a documentary by Tornatore. But, despite his 2021 film about Ennio Morricone proving that Tornatore could make a great documentary in traditional style, Brunello: The Gracious Visionary plays as a dramatised biopic with a large cast of actors which is interrupted at frequent intervals by documentary footage shot for the film. Many of the interviewees speak very briefly, but their very presence clashes with the widespread re-enactments which go far beyond the kind of inserted reconstructions which, usually labelled as such, can be incorporated into a documentary without changing the nature of the film.
It is significant that when the credits come up at the film’s close the top billing goes to Brunello Cucinelli himself immediately followed by the five leading players and the supporting cast with the other participants including Brunello’s family members being listed last. But, if this odd balance of material makes for a rather strange cinematic experience, the key element in one's response to the film is how one reacts to the role in it taken by Brunello Cucinelli himself. I should mention here that I knew nothing of him before seeing this film and learnt from it that he has been a generous benefactor, not least to the village of Solomeo where his wife, Federica, was born. Restoration of ancient buildings there went hand-in-hand with setting up a theatre, a library of the arts and other new projects too. His awards and honours include various prizes and an honorary degree in philosophy and human relationships ethics from the University of Perugia bestowed on him in 2010. All of this suggests that he is a fine person and that may well be the case, but the way in which he presents himself in this film produced by his own company, Brunello Cucinelli SpA, gives the off-putting impression that this is a huge vanity product.
If Brunello: The Gracious Visionary was a tribute by an outsider, it would feel very different, but the idea for the film came from the man himself. Furthermore, the present-day Cucinelli dominates the film in every sense. Heard even before he is seen, his opening comments could hardly be more grandiose. Images of flames prompt the reflection that "Fire is silence. A symbol of creativity. A symbol of profound human contemplation. Fire is romantic". Like his quotes from philosophers that emerge later, this sounds like a man trying to impress by his philosophical depth. Three actors will portray him at various ages with the greater part of the film's first half devoted to his early childhood but with intercuts to him seen seated as he describes his past to us. Not only will that continue, but Cucinelli himself as he is now is inserted into the enacted scenes as an observer. Seemingly a great card player, we frequently see him put down what is doubtless a winning card and at the very end he is seen playing cards with Francesco Cannevale who represents his seven-year-old self!
While Cucinelli’s success story is striking, it hardly offers fruitful material for such a long film especially when virtually every interviewee offers nothing but praise for him. His religious beliefs are such that two churchmen are among them and, when the film’s music turns religious too, Brunello: The Gracious Visionary almost suggests that Brunello ought to be considered for sainthood. Of course, we ought to believe it when it is said of him that he is not somebody who seeks glory or triumph and the simple epitaph he would choose for his tombstone (‘He was a good man’ with no additional words except perhaps ‘who loved beauty’) is surely evidence of his humility. The problem that I had with the film was that its approach seemed so lacking in actual humility or in any deep insight into Brunello Cucinelli that it became an unintentionally off-putting portrait of him. At the close Tornatore compounds this by not holding back in a scene depicting an outdoor meal for guests hosted by Cucinelli at a table so long that it would make Donald Trump envious (the camera movement featured here is stunning but right over the top). Earlier the filmmaking quality has been the piece’s saving grace, but even that fails at the last albeit in what is nevertheless a gloriously memorable way!
Original title: Brunello, il visionario garbato.
Cast: Bruno Cucinelli, Saul Nanni, Francesco Cannevale, Francesco Ferroni, Emma Fatone, Beatrice Carlani, Matteo Calderini, Sergio Sbano, Tommaso Pianelli, Aristide Cini, Elena Maneggia and contributions from Oprah Winfrey, Camilla Cucinelli, Carolina Cucinelli, Giovannino Cucinelli, Walter Cucinelli, Padre Cassian Folsom, Cardinale Gualtiero Bassetti and many others.
Dir Giuseppe Tornatore, Pro Brunello Cucinelli and Massimiliano di Lodovico, Screenplay Giuseppe Tornatore, Ph Fabio Zamarion, Pro Des Maurizio Sabatini and Maurizio di Clemente, Ed Massimo Quaglia and Pietro Foglietti, Music Nicola Piovani, Costumes Maurizio Millenotti and Alfonsina Lettieri.
Brunello Cucinelli SpA/Masi Film/Rai Cinema-Picturehouse Entertainment.120 mins. Italy. 2025. UK and US Rel: 24 July 2026. Cert. 12A.
