Gaga glitters in a fizzy, funny feast of fabulous camp

RIDLEY SCOTT’S new film is a true-crime comedy that lasts for more than two and half hours and contains Italian accents worthy of a Cornetto ad. That’s not a problem because unlike Scott’s The Last Duel (exceedingly long and full of American and English actors failing to sound French), House of Gucci is well-paced and tonally consistent. Smart, funny and camp, it’s not interested in keeping a straight face, strutting its way to glory. This is all fizz and no faff. Lady Gaga stars as infamous real-life figure Patrizia Reggiani, who in 1997 was found guilty

of ordering a hit on her ex-husband Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver). The film begins with pampered but lonely Maurizio falling for Patrizia, to the horror of Maurizio’s dad (Jeremy Irons). Rodolfo Gucci’s only child has shoulders as broad as Gregory Peck’s, yet is as doe-eyed as Audrey Hepburn. Patrizia playfully dubs him “Cinderella”. She also wears his glasses while they have amusingly vigorous sex, one of many visual clues that she’s out to change the rules of seduction.

This effervescent schemer soon sets her sights on increasing Maurizio’s stake in the luxury fashion brand, exploiting tension between Maurizio’s rash cousin Paolo (Jared Leto) and the latter’s canny but complacent dad Aldo (Al Pacino). Alas, by the time Maurizio’s in a winning position, Patrizia’s is looking dicey. Out of desperation, she starts spending time with Giuseppina Auriemma (Salma Hayek), a psychic so shady she makes the witches in Macbeth look like top-notch career advisers.

Does Gaga deserve an Oscar for her performance? It will certainly be a crime if she’s not in the running. She was all but playing herself in A Star is Born; the role of Patrizia is infinitely more complex. But nor

does this feel like a vanity project for the 35-year-old singer. Sure, many shots show off her fab body but in other scenes she looks like a Motörhead-loving smurf. She’s always had a gift for witty shape-changing and here, her supple sense of fun has been dialled up to 11.

As for Leto, buried in unbecoming make-up, this is him trying to out-do Sean Penn in Carlito’s Way. Convinced that his time has come at last, Paolo’s eyes shine as he says: “Never confuse shit and cioccolata. They look the same. But the taste is very different!” Suffice to say, he lets his inner schlub run free and is unexpectedly heart-breaking.

Gaga. Leto. Driver. Pacino. Hayek. Though the sets spill over with colour, the most awesome thing in the frame is always one of these actors. Movies about the rich can easily morph into wealth porn. How lucky that Scott’s more aroused by his cast than candelabras or Klimts. This is the director’s most iconoclastic project since Thelma and Louise, and the most entertaining thing he’s done in two decades. Mary Quant once said, “Good taste is death, vulgarity is life”. There’s no shortage of life in the house that Scott’s built.

• In cinemas