Karl review – a respectful tribute reveals the behind-the-scenes story of fashion's greatest oddball Karl Lagerfeld

Drawing from Lagerfeld's biography, director Nick Hooker gains access to the designer's close associates, but ultimately cannot uncover the person behind the high collar and sunglasses.

Karl Lagerfeld had never stepped into a supermarket before he had one constructed on a runway in 2014, featuring models strolling through aisles with baskets buying Chanel-branded cheese. It was quintessential Lagerfeld: utterly absurd yet a stroke of brilliance. The fashion icon was easy to mock, with his white bouffant-plus-ponytail hairstyle and black leather gloves. Yet behind this image was a man fluent in four languages, a workaholic who continued leading Chanel, Fendi, and his own label Karl Lagerfeld into his 80s.

This conscientious, uncontroversial documentary is based on William Middleton's biography Paradise Now: The Extraordinary Life of Karl Lagerfeld. Alongside archival footage of Lagerfeld, filmmaker Nick Hooker gains entry to the designer's inner circle, but ultimately his film fails to break through the facade. (This is not a critique: I once interviewed Lagerfeld, a frustrating 30-minute session where the dark glasses remained on, and he responded with clever quips but revealed nothing.) In a clip at the start of the film, Lagerfeld acknowledges that he has spent so long playing a role that even those closest to him do not truly know who he is.