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BRunello Cucinelli is an Italian fashion designer and entrepreneur who built a billion dollar empire. He is known as “the king of cashmere”, which would be a good title for this two-hour film, which was ordered by Cucinelli about himself, directed by the Oscar-winning filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore. In fact, “The Graceful Visionary” gives a glimpse of the type of film we’re dealing with – a nonsense project with a capital “V”, a capital “A”, “N” and all the rest of the letters.
Not that you will be disappointed by Cucinelli’s film about his extraordinary life. He was born into a poor farming family, which is shown here in pictures reconstructed with the idea of sugar as a simple time of harmless fun. As a boy, Cucinelli is played as a small boy who grows up to be a teenager who prefers playing cards at the local bar to studying. (Though his efforts to set the town’s whore on the right track are included to show his moral compass.) When Cucinelli meets his future wife, he kneels down, does the same thing, has the brains to make cashmere jumpers for the women’s market in bright colors (they were already made in boring gray and beige). Today he is the owner of an equally high-end model, available to those who have £2,500 to spend on a jumper.
The film is a hybrid of documentary and drama, and in interviews the man comes off as a good billionaire. She is beautiful and prides herself on being a good employer, inspired by the poor conditions of the factory where her father worked after the family moved to the city for a better life. He has also donated a lot of money to save the old buildings in the town where his business is based from falling into disrepair and decay. But the film continues with sycophancy and specialism. At one point we see old footage of Cucinelli in his 20s appearing in the Easter Passion play, playing the real Jesus Christ.
In the end this will be less like a movie than a home promotion for new employees, a perfect introduction to the training day. I’m not sure it matters to all of us.
