By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

High and Low - John Galliano (UK, 2023): Few careers have come to a more abrupt ending than House Dior’s artistic director John Galliano. After dominating the fashion industry for nearly two decades, two antisemitic tirades in 2011 (one captured on camera) got him kicked out of the industry he helped transform and in hot water with the French justice system.

The documentary High and Low covers the incidents, but also the before and after to one of the greatest designers to notable effect. Director Kevin Macdonald (Whitney, Marley) isn’t here to condemn or rehabilitate Galliano. Instead, he tries to understand what caused the meltdown and whether he should be considered rehabilitated.

The top half of the film is dedicated to Galliano’s rise. A terribly compelling figure, it’s hard not to like the scrappy kid who oozes talent, but has no nose for the business aspect of fashion. His creations are impractical, operatic, hypnotic. Models like Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Amber Valleta are happy to work for free for the couturier, and finds champions in Vogue’s denizens André León Talley and Anna Wintour.

With success come responsibilities and, by the time of his fall from grace, Galliano was in charge of 32 collections per year. The level of stress and the need to tap into his creative side constantly led him to abuse alcohol and other substances. It’s not out of the question Galliano chose to commit social suicide, overwhelmed by it all.

John Galliano is at hand to discuss his life, triumphs and tragedies. He’s forthcoming about everything except the root of his antisemitic tirade. When asked, he’s cagey and seems confused by all the fuss. Director Macdonald lets us make our own mind and to me at least, he seems more sorry about getting caught than about what he said.

Worth mentioning, Galliano “did the work”, got sober and put himself under the tutelage of rabbis who taught him about the Holocaust. Yet he didn’t apologize to the victim of his rant, still pained by the experience, and kind of dressed like a Hassidic Jew for kicks.

High and Low is fascinating for multiple reasons. You can come for the clothes, the scandal or the so-called redemption arc and feel satisfied by the end. A slam dunk. 4/5 stars.

High and Low - John Galliano opens Friday 15 at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema in Toronto and VIFF Theatre in Vancouver.