Connect with us
Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams review
Image: Sony Pictures Classics

Film

Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams is all About the Shoes- and the Man

Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams

Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams Review

Whether you own dozens of pairs of Ferragamo shoes, or you’re someone who only knows names like Salvatore Ferragamo and Manolo Blahnik from when they were mentioned on Sex and the City, Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams is a fascinating documentary about Ferragamo, his shoe empire and his sojourn to Hollywood. 

Directed by Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino, in one of two films he has out this month, Salvatore is an extensive history of the life of the designer, who was born in poor circumstances in Bonito, Italy in 1898, and died at age 62 in 1960. His widow Wanda Ferragamo, the mother of his six children who took over the fashion house after his death, lived until 2018 and was interviewed for the film. 

Image: Sony Pictures Classics

The film, among other things, makes clear that “shoemaker” was not anything close to a fashionable calling, and that Ferragamo helped usher the concept of “celebrity fashion designer” into existence. 

Ferragamo has been dead for over 60 years, but the film has plenty to work with: His recorded voice, a memoir lead aloud by frequent Guadagnino collaborator Michael Stuhlbarg, the cooperation of Ferragamo’s estate, and a group of talking heads led by Martin Scorsese, as well as Blahnik himself. 

“My desire to work with feet was unrelenting,” we hear Ferragamo say, in a quote we may someday see again in a documentary about Quentin Tarantino. Though as we learn in the film, QT was far from the first top filmmaker to indulge his love of ladies’ feet in his work; D.W. Griffith had such proclivities as well, nearly a century ago. 

Indeed, while Salvatore spends some time talking about the designer’s early life as part of a family of 11 children, as well as his emigration to the United States at age 16 and his arrival in Boston, the most compelling part of the film is when he arrives in Hollywood during its formative years. 

There, over a period of several decades, he made shoes for the movies, as well as for starlets to wear. He started in the silent era, went bust during the Depression, and made a comeback soon after, emerging as the shoe provider of choice for the likes of Bette Davis and Marilyn Monroe. At the same time, they present what appeared to be Ferragamo’s family life; if that family or company ever had any drama in the tradition of House of Gucci, we don’t hear about it here. 

The film ends with a very impressive montage, called a “shoe ballet,” of many of Ferragamo’s notable creations. It was enough to impress me, someone, who knows enough about women’s shoes to fill a thimble. 

Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams opened November 4 in some cities with an expansion to come later. 

Written By

Stephen Silver is a journalist and film critic based in the Philadelphia area. He is the co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle and a Rotten Tomatoes-listed critic since 2008, and his work has appeared in New York Press, Philly Voice, The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Tablet, The Times of Israel, and RogerEbert.com. In 2009, he became the first American journalist to interview both a sitting FCC chairman and a sitting host of "Jeopardy" on the same day.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Facebook

Trending

2001: A Space Odyssey 2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: Clarke and Kubrick’s Odyssey of Discovery

Culture

Deep Impact was a serious look at the end of the world Deep Impact was a serious look at the end of the world

25 Years Later: Deep Impact was a Serious Look at the End of the World 

Film

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 movie review Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 movie review

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Caps Off the Trilogy With a Heartfelt Bang (Mostly)

Film

The Best Movies of 1973 The Best Movies of 1973

The Golden Year of Movies: 1973

Culture

The Zone of Interest The Zone of Interest

Cannes 2023: Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest is a Manicured Vision of Hell

Culture

Jeanne Du Barry review Jeanne Du Barry review

Cannes 2023: Maïwenn’s Great Hair Goes to Great Lengths in Jeanne Du Barry

Culture

Black Flies Gripping Black Flies Gripping

Cannes 2023: Black Flies— Gripping Descent into the Underbelly of New York’s Urban Misery 

Culture

Asteroid City: A Gimmicky Vanity Project Asteroid City: A Gimmicky Vanity Project

Cannes 2023: Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City is a Gimmicky Vanity Project

Culture

La Passion de Dodin Bouffant: La Passion de Dodin Bouffant:

La Passion de Dodin Bouffant: Surfeit Cooking Drama Most Inane Film at Cannes

Culture

BlackBerry movie review BlackBerry movie review

BlackBerry Is a Wonderfully Canadian Account of a Dying Tech Dream

Film

The Mother Jennifer Lopez and Lucy Paez The Mother Jennifer Lopez and Lucy Paez

Jennifer Lopez’s The Mother is Eerily Similar to Enough, But That’s Not a Bad Thing

Film

Godzilla 1998 Godzilla 1998

Godzilla at 25: When Hollywood Made a Manhattan Monster Movie, with Disastrous Results

Film

The Matrix Reloaded The Matrix Reloaded

20 Years Later: The Matrix Reloaded was Underwhelming, but Still Underrated

Film

Discovery channel Discovery channel

The Head-Scratching Moves Discovery Has Been Making

Culture

10 Best SummerSlam Matches 10 Best SummerSlam Matches

10 Best SummerSlam Matches

Culture

Sean Connery Sean Connery

60 Years Later, Dr. No Remains the Paragon of Bond

Film

Connect