House of Versace (2013 TV Movie) User Reviews (9)

Interesting if too much about Donatella and not enough about Gianni

[phd_travel · 7/10 · 9 March 2015]

This movie is more about Donatella than Gianni glossing over the murder and the life of Gianni but showing Donatella's meltdown and comeback. It's entertaining enough but maybe the focus could have been a bit more on before the death. The fashion shows and creative process are quite high energy.

Gina Gershon gives a good performance even if her figure is much too beautiful than the subject. Almost any actress would be way better looking than Donatella but she captures the essence with the lips and blonde hair. Enrico from Veronica Mars looks like Gianni.

Worth one watch.

Loved this movie.

[Shopaholic35 · 7/10 · 21 February 2015]

So incredibly impressed with this movie. I had absolutely no idea that Versace came so close to ruin. I question what would have happened to the label if Gianni Versace had of never been killed. Truthfully Donatella and Gianni were a brilliant team despite their volatile sibling relationship. They both made Versace an excellent design house that had so much promise. Gianni was the flamboyant creative visionary and Donatella had the smart editing eye and a stylish outlook. Without each other they crumble.

My main problem with the movie was that they glazed over a few key plot lines and didn't take it far enough. The leading theme was Donatella's decline into drug and alcohol addiction but there were so many other aspects they could have explored. Also I think they were pretty kind with brushing over Donatella's plastic surgery history and Allegra's battle with anorexia.

Aside from that House of Versace is very insightful and entertaining. I cannot recommend it enough.

Living the life

[kosmasp · 5/10 · 18 June 2015]

This TV movie based on the Versaces and their "relationship(s)" is nicely told. Of course there is an inciting incident with the husband (you might know what will happen, but it's about the reactions from others, especially his wife that drives this movie along). But we get a lot of other people who are somehow involved in all this.

Gina Gershon goes all in with this. And she's not afraid to show darker sides and vulnerability. Actually at times it is hard to feel any sympathy for her Versace (portrayal). But then again, do not forget, she's a human being fighting against adversary. That's not an easy thing to do. It's almost as difficult as a leopard trying to change his spots. A TV movie/drama of the week, based on and around a tragic event

made in Canada

[blanche-2 · 7 October 2013]

If you like fashion, you might enjoy "The House of Versace," a 2013 Lifetime movie about Donatella Versace's attempts to follow in her late brother's footsteps, and her battle with drugs and alcohol.

Versace's high-profile murder at the hands of a serial killer is only touched on. Enrico Colantoni is marvelous as the designer, and it's unfortunate that he only appears in part of the film.

Versace is shown to be the genius of the House of Versace, and he and his sister Donatella (Gina Gershon) are interdependent, more so than their brother (Colm Feore) who handles the business side. Donatella is ambitious and wants her own line; while Gianni will defer to her as a stylist and believes some of her ideas are brilliant, HE is the designer and wants it to stay that way. They have some terrible fights but in the end they always reconcile.

It might have been during one of these fights that Versace changed his will and left everything to his adored niece, who was something like 13 at the time. Hurt, angry, and unable to keep the House of Versace solvent, Donatella turns to booze and drugs and loses her husband, Paul Beck (Alex Carter) in the bargain. The question is, can she turn the house around so her daughter has anything to inherit? This is not Schindler's List. It's very Lifetime and has a lot of material to cover in two hours, so there's some shorthand involved. We don't, for instance, get much into Versace's death, as mentioned before; nor do we get much insight into his life with his partner, and while we see Donatella cheating once, we don't learn much about her marriage or her husband.

Gina Gershon is, of course, much better-looking than Donatella Versace before or after she had her lips blown up, and she gives a good performance here. She is unrecognizable. Racquel Welch is absolutely gorgeous as Aunt Lucia, and I would have loved to have seen more of her.

As mentioned in the subject line, this is a totally Canadian production. Colm Feore, who plays the third Versace sibling, is not only one of the best actors around, period, but one of the biggest in Canada - a positively brilliant stage actor who occasionally takes a TV movie for the money.

Some nice fashion - again, I could have used more. Is this a fair representation of Donatella? Not sure, but she should have been happy being portrayed by Gershon.

This movie is amazing in one aspect...

[temps_perdu · 1/10 · 18 February 2016]

...that it shows how the mind of a deluded, dumb narcissist works. Every second of this ludicrous "movie" screamed "Donatella was here and controlled everything from the script to the acting and most of all made sure that everything was about HER". The result of this obvious intervention is a complete and utter failure. A script that would've been written better by a mentally impaired child, horrendous acting, homely "models" who couldn't walk or pose, badly, badly recreated clothes and, worst of all, the amateurish direction of Sara Sugarman.

"House of Versace" is a two-hour masturbation of a stupid and narcissistic woman who has hired (and controlled - badly) a team to make a film about HER (nothing to do with Versace or reality at all). It is a sordid fantasy of a self-absorbed débile, in which she is this perfect creature even in her faults and where everyone exists as an extension of herself, performing the function of adoring her, admiring her and forgiving her when she needs it. Sounds ridiculous? That's because it was. My words fail me to express how ridiculously bad it all was. Cliché after cliché. I give it the lowest rating I can.

Campy Good Fun!

[cinemaniac2002 · 5/10 · 13 October 2013]

I have a confession to make. I think that fashion is basically banal. I mean, how much of fashion just isn't recycled over and over again. Not that anyone cares, but I also watch Fashion Police on E! – but only to hear Joan Rivers rip all those celebrities to shreds – that only she can do. h Is there ever really any originality in fashion? I suppose fashionistas would argue otherwise. But all of that is really beside the point. So the main reason I even watched this film was to see how Gina Gershon handled the role of the woman who basically took over the "creative vision" of one of the most edgy designers of our time – perhaps any time.

Given the lack of complexity of fashion itself and what it stands for – the shear shallowness of it all – I thought the writers and actors did a very good job of rendering an interesting film. Gershon captured that cartoonish quality that women like Donatella have – that ridiculous way of taking herself way too seriously. I mean, it's only clothes. I suppose all these high priced designers hinge upon the latest celebrities wearing their stuff - but given that they already had the connections – seems like a bit of a slam dunk. So why on earth they act like they are performing heart surgery is beyond me. Oh, wait! That's what a large portion of anyone who works in entertainment does. Been a long time since I lived in LaLaland – so it's easy to forget. Especially when that is what you are trying to do.

Many designers and creatives have a jerky side, and neither the Gianni nor the Donatella characters disappoint in that regard. The sniping between them is believable --- especially given how big their egos must have been at the time.

However, the one thing that surprised me was how callous Gianni turned out to be – leaving everything to Donatella's daughter, Allegra – rather than to his sister. All in all – campy, vapid good fun and a great source of guilty pleasure. Thanks, Lifetime!

The perfect choice for a fashion addict

[evgenidilov · 10/10 · 2 April 2016]

I've always wanted the watch this movie, but I never got the chance... until HBO decided to air it. Well, it turns out that it was worth the wait. The movie is just incredible and it tells a breath-taking personal story that amazes the viewers. The cast is well chosen. Gina Gershon is flawless in her role as Donatella. She's got the look and all the gestures the leading lady of Versace always does. The thing that definitely got me speechless was the voice and the accent of Gina who imitated Donatella's strong voice unbelievably good. The scene of her passing out after she found out Gianni is dead was one of the moments when I asked myself if it really is possible to have that much talent. The fashion, the lush life of the celebrities, the paparazzi... everything is done in the right away. I absolutely recommend the movie to anyone who thinks that can appreciate it and get acquainted with the heartbreaking story of the Versace family.

Avoid at all cost if you have any respect for Versace.

[bfcb01 · 7 October 2013]

This is one of the most offensive portrayals broadcast in the history of television. Poorly written and cheaply produced it does nothing to capture the era. Gianni Versace is played by a lookalike mannequin whose performance along with a disgustingly superficial script makeover the master into a cheap fag. If you want to see the great Versace Atelier clothes or the roaring supermodel era of Miami thru 90's get a catalog, you won't find it here. Gina Gershon mopes thru her role as the fallen sister, replete with the obligatory and overdone drug problem. This offensive offering is a two hour game of charades played with fake Yawker Brooklyn/Italian accents. Versace ruled the fashion world during his short life, to have this man of immense talent portrayed in such a poor offering is a hostile and exploitive cheap shot.

Decent

[Kirpianuscus · 2 February 2020]

If you know the Versace univers, you can give a reasonable verdict about characters, performances, storytelling . If not, you can define it as just a decent film, the effort to define the relations between family members, the acting of Gina Gershon and the presence of Raquel Welch being good points for a drama about ways to resist against dark circumstances and to discover the basic, fundamentals values.