This story was published on November 29, 2021 and updated on February 8, 2022
Justice for Lady Gaga!
The 2022 Oscar nominations are here and, devastatingly, the House of Gucci star received a total of zero nods, even for her brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular "Italian" accent.
Gaga's snub wasn't entirely unexpected, though.
House of Gucci might be meme material, but it didn't quite receive critical acclaim. In fact, the real-life Gucci family was so opposed to the film that they issued a scathing response to it.
"The production of the film did not bother to consult the heirs before describing Aldo Gucci — president of the company for 30 years — and the members of the Gucci family as thugs, ignorant and insensitive to the world around them," a statement from the family reads.
The Guccis — who, it's worth noting, are no longer involved with their namesake house — also took issue with the film's depiction of Patrizia Reggiani, who hired a hitman to kill her ex-husband, Maurizio Gucci.
Played by Gaga, Reggiani is painted "as a victim trying to survive in a masculine and chauvinistic corporate culture," according to the family — who, ostensibly, would like Reggiani to be remembered as a murderer rather than a sympathetic character.
The family also defended their reign at the label as "always inclusive," pointing out that, in the '80s, several women held top positions — specifically, "the President of Gucci America, the Head of Global PR & Communications, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Gucci America company."
"The Gucci family reserves the right to take any actions necessary to protect the name, image and dignity of themselves, and their loved ones," the statement ends, a rather foreboding conclusion that seems to suggest an incoming lawsuit.
Tom Ford, the legendary designer who singlehandedly saved Gucci from near-bankruptcy during his tenure at the house, wrote a similarly scathing review of House of Gucci for Air Mail, Graydon Carter's digital weekly.
"I recently survived a screening of the two-hour-and-37-minute film that is House of Gucci," the piece began. Ouch.
Ford, who is portrayed in the film by an equally dapper Reeve Carney, commended Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, and Jeremy Irons for their performances. But the praise stopped there.
He described the film as "a story in which we identify with no one," and concluded: "I was deeply sad for several days after watching House of Gucci... It was hard for me to see the humor and camp in something that was so bloody. In real life, none of it was camp."
A.O. Scott also rejected the film, stating that it most notably lacks "a strong idea and a credible reason for existing." (He also panned Gaga's "Italian" accent, the subject of much online chatter.)
Good or not, the movie was a marketing win for Gucci — which, thanks to Alessandro Michele's bold vision, dominated 2021 as one of fashion's buzziest luxury labels.
As Ford so nicely puts it: "Splash the Gucci name across things and they usually sell."
