If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The main film was a fascinating glimpse into the world of the ultra rich Europeans, who live in a manner that the rest of us cannot even imagine. Valentino is the last of the Haute Couture designers and he was determined to go out with a bang, even if his world had been taken over by the acquisition and merger corporations and hedge funds.Although I could never afford a Valentino dress, nor do I think I would ever want to spend that kind of money, but to have them there at all is the stuff dreams are made of. Dainty pleated bias cut and filmy swirls of color, hand sewn by expert seamstresses, which say to the rest of us that the wearer doesn't have to ask the price. As we learn, there is little money in the high fashion collections, they are to advertise the name. The suits want to market the small more affordable stuff, perfume, belts, scarves, purses, which carry the company name, which is what they have paid for. As we see, they will sell the company off within days or weeks if they can turn a profit - forget about promises made, they don't go along with the sale. The expensive exquisitely hand sewn Italian and French craftsmanship will be replaced by mass production, probably in China. They have the name, that is all that matters. Someone notes that when Valentino and the last great couturiers began in the 50's and 60's, they were were taught by the designers of the 20s, and that cannot happen today. The best part of the DVD for me was the special features, one of which showed Valentino's spectacular farewell party and his last collection. A party held within view of the Coliseum illuminated with Valentino red lighting, and a fireworks display over Rome! Throughout Valentino walked imperiously, left hand in his pocket, lips pursed ready for the cheek bumping mwah, mwah, greeting for both men and women and his palm downward wave. At one of his farewell parties, the entire workforce was invited and were given gifts. We never got to see what the gifts consisted of.Another special feature, which for me could have been the main film, was a view of the army of staff who maintain Valentino's residences, a French Château where the mile long(?) brick drive runs between dead straight rows of identical trees and brown patches of grass are sprayed green, a ski chalet in Gstadt, apartments in New York and Milan, all overseen by an Irish major domo, Michael Kelly, who seems to do everything from covering the furniture with dust cloths, cleaning thepugs' teeth, walking the pugs, winding the clocks, setting tables, supervising the kitchen, meeting the celebrity guests with umbrellas in a rainstorm and acting as a walking Rolodex and desk calendar for Valentino. As the guest arrive at the gate, the staff inform Mr. Kelly on the walkie talkie, so that Mr. V. can greet them at the door by name, in case he has forgotten a Duchess or confused Elton John with Joan Collins. The clockwork precision and organization which goes into maintaining these homes reminded me of the films about the Royal Family. We learned that they have identical table settings in each home, the maid preparing Mr. Valentino's room in Gstadt gets a birthday present and a cheek bump from Mr. V., Had he been prompted by Mr. Kelly and who had really chosen the white blouse she received?Mr. Kelly goes along on the luxurious private jet, with a chef and the perfectly matched pugs, who get their own seats. We see him shopping in New York for food and flowers, polishing spots from mirrors while giving a last minute inspection in the Château, and dealing with a flooded carpet in the tented outdoor dining room as the rain teemed down on the day of the party - all the time fluently switching from English to French. How does one get a job like that? Where did he get his start? If only the special feature had been as long as the main feature. I enjoyed seeing how the other fraction of one percent lived.

The priceless opportunity to crash an artist's inner sanctum and watch him at work is the considerable appeal of this documentary, whose name it appropriates, of course, from the Bernardo Bertolucci-directed Academy Award-winning film about the end of the Qing Empire in feudal China. "Valentino: The Last Emperor" allows the viewer a peak into the rarefied world of "haute coutre", where the fashion designer's latest crisis, sequins or no sequins for his latest creation, is in the process of being resolved. In a crowded room, surrounded by his minions, a typically angular model is reduced to a mannequin; her casual nudity no more titillating than a venerable nun's state of undress. The subject of the scene is that white gown, not the woman who occupies it. As she's being fitted, the model's downturned countenance of ennui de-eroticizes her nakedness. The room full of people, all tending to their appointed tasks, pay no mind to this woman in the buff, which orientates the viewer to see the model through Valentino's eyes. Perhaps a nipple ring would have destroyed the functional aspect of the model's bared breasts, but the prevailing context of her nudity blurs the male gaze, since the viewer has no corresponding stand-in within the diegesis to enjoy the female form in all its purity. The opportunities to see a naked woman of film are endless. The quotidian visage of the model deflects attention away from her; she's not in the seducing mood; she's working, and onto her clothes. To Valentino's credit, the white gown that forms around the model's diaphanous body makes her look even more desirable than the pure state she achieves through the rigorous denial of normal caloric sustenance. The nude dress upstages the nude woman. The dress does the seducing. The viewer wants that dress; the dress is the eye candy, in this instance. Finally, the emperor decrees: Let there be sequins. And we were there to see an icon put the finishing touches on his latest masterpiece. Alas, "Valentino: The Last Emperor" will irk those who can't relate, or pretend to sympathize with the problems of the rich. But wealth is beside the point in Valentino's case. Stripped of its luxurious trappings, the fashion designer's trials and tribulations should be remarkably relatable to anybody who ever created a work of art, and saw their creative control suddenly taken away from them.

A wonderful portrait, displays several sides of Valentino from Emperor to flawed human like the rest of us. The artist, the opulent lifestyle, the dedicated partnership with his lover, the changing of the fashion business and its ramifications on this aging lion and the reality he created.Music for the movie was perfectly selected, very well executed, edited and beautiful cinematography. This film was inspiring, funny, and touching. If your lucky enough to have Valentino in your city, hurry to the theater as it is a must see. What comes after Valentino? As he says, "The flood".

The film is not so good, I 've to say. It' s a documentary but not really a well done documentary, considering the good one made for Armani by Scorzese or by Lagarfield for Chanel...or Sophia Coppola for Dolce e Gabbana....It's 'bad done' I would say. The title is MORE than PRETENTIOUS. Poor Bertolucci...Bad thing people who does not know humility... The director, Matt Tyrnauer, is not a director and you can well see it. But it seems he has not ideas as well. It' s a mess of situations with non sense. The plot, if we could call it in this way, is the persona of Valentino and his partner Giameto in private life, but it seems they are not spontaneous, that they want to appear in front of the camera not for their beautiful work but just to appear in front of the camera. It' s a little bit embarrassing to see a designer acting in this way instead of going on with his job. It seems he can' t live without being a celebrity even if his reality movie could make him looking a little bit ridiculous. To me awful movie.