Ridley Scott’s star-studded drama House of Gucci debuted to a strong opening weekend amidst the Thanksgiving holiday, a good sign that mid-budget adult dramas haven’t completely disappeared from the box office charts. Although reviews have been mixed, it's possible that House of Gucci could make its way into the awards race as critical bodies begin their voting procedures in the next few weeks. Despite the strong performances, many viewers may have been left confused by the film's shocking closing scenes. The film's climax is built up to throughout the film with palpable tension as we see Patrizia Reggiani's (Lady Gaga) mental stability slowly deteriorate as she gets drunk on power and wealth, leading her husband, Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver), to divorce her. Patrizia decides to take drastic measures, and she organizes to have her husband assassinated. The film closes with Patrizia and her co-conspirators being sentenced to over twenty years in jail.
But how did we get to this point? Let's do a run-through, shall we? Based on the acclaimed novel, The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed by Sara Gay Forden, the film tells the true story of the development of the Gucci brand throughout the early 1970s to the late 1990s. The film begins with an initial romantic fling between the family’s heir apparent, Maurizio, and the working-class office manager, Patrizia, who is employed at her father’s business. Patrizia is far from the match that Maurizio’s family had in mind, and his father, Rodolfo (Jeremy Irons), initially banishes him from the family.
However, Maurizio and Patrizia are able to take control of their 50% interest in Gucci, and Patrizia ruthlessly pits Maurizio's cousin Paolo (Jared Leto) and uncle Aldo (Al Pacino) against each other. Maurizio grows uncomfortable with Patrizia’s scheming, and her involvement with the psychic consultant, Giuseppina Auriemma (Salma Hayek). She becomes increasingly jealous, suspecting her husband’s infidelity. After Maurizio files for divorce, Patrizia’s thoughts grow darker, and alongside Giuseppina, she plots her husband’s assassination.
In a shocking true crime story that dominated headlines in 1995, Maurizio is gunned down by Sicilian hitmen outside of his office building as he began a day of work. Screenwriter Becky Johnston described Maurizio’s murder as one of “two deaths./When Patrizia knows that Maurizio is about to die, I think she dies a little bit inside, too, she said. “I always imagined it as an intercutting between those two moments: Maurizio being murdered and Patrizia in the bathtub, discovering what she'd done and not being able to turn back." Only a few hours after his Murder, Patrizia and her daughter, Alessandra arrive at the home that Maurizio shared with his girlfriend, Paola (Camille Cottin). She offers what we believe to be forgiveness and support to the woman she always hated and envied, but after this seemingly heartfelt hug, she orders Paola out immediately.
In real life, Patrizia was dubbed the “Black Widow”. She was arrested in 1997 and sentenced to 29 years in prison in an extravagant court case described as "the Italian version of the O.J. Simpson trial" in which all five suspects were tried at the same time. Patrizia, Pina, and their co-conspirators Ivano Savioni and Orazio Cicala were all found guilty of arranging the assassination, and the hitman Benedetto Ceraulo was found guilty of murder. Patrizia was ultimately released in 2016, and publicly expressed her frustration with Lady Gaga for not meeting with her prior to filming. Giuseppina was released from prison in 2010,
Maurizio was no longer involved with Gucci at the time of his death, as he'd sold his remaining stock for $190 million in 1993 to Investcore when they decided to take Gucci in a new direction headed by Tom Ford (Reeve Carney) and to great success. Longtime Gucci lawyer and friend, Domenico De Sole (Jack Huston), took over as CEO, being one of the final kickers in the film as Patrizia had tried to warn Maurizio about De Sole's true intentions. Aldo had died in 1990, and Paolo died only months later in 1997. As stated in the closing credits of the film, there are no members of the Gucci family who currently work for the company, and it's no real mystery why.