House of Gucci’s campy charms seem to have eluded its titular family. Less than a week after the release of Ridley Scott’s splashy biopic, which stars Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani and Adam Driver as Maurizio Gucci, the Guccis have issued a statement branding the movie “extremely painful” and “an insult” to their legacy. (Note: The living Gucci family members are no longer involved with the company.)

In remarks first published by Italian news agency ANSA, the Guccis railed against the film’s “anything but accurate” narrative. “The film’s production did not bother to consult the heirs before describing Aldo Gucci—president of the company for 30 years [played by Al Pacino]—and the members of the Gucci family as thugs who were ignorant and insensitive to the world around them,” the statement reads, adding that House of Gucci ascribes “entirely fabricated attitudes and conduct to the protagonists of the notorious events.” 

The biopic depicts the murder of Maurizio, grandson of fashion-house founder Guccio Gucci, which was orchestrated by his ex-wife, Patrizia Reggiani. “This is extremely painful from a human point of view and an insult to the legacy on which the brand is built today,” the statement continues. It also criticizes the “indulgent intonations” toward Reggiani, who was convicted in 1998 of arranging the assassination. The family claims that, as played by Gaga, she is “painted not only in the film, but also in the statements from cast members, as a victim trying to survive in a masculine and chauvinistic corporate culture.”

This framing is also inaccurate, the Guccis argue, citing that the “inclusive” company held “several women in top positions” during the film’s 1980s purview. “The Gucci family lives by honoring the work of its predecessors, the memory of whom does not deserve to be upset merely to put on a fictional show that does not do justice to its protagonists,” the statement concludes, noting that “the Gucci family reserves the right to take any action necessary to protect the name, image, and dignity of themselves and their loved ones.” 

Patrizia Gucci, a second cousin of Maurizio who initially expressed family concerns with House of Gucci in April, told The New York Times that the family began planning for a joint statement about a month ago. Despite the warning that the Gucci family “reserves the right to take any action,” she told the Times that no legal action is currently in the works. According to the outlet, public relations reps for the movie said that Scott and the producers could not be reached to comment on the statement. Gaga has previously stated that she did not interact with her real-life character.

Another notable critic of House of Gucci would be designer and director Tom Ford, who served as creative director of the fashion label from 1994 to 2004 and is played by Reeve Carney in the film. Sharing his thoughts on the movie for Air Mail, Ford compared watching it to living “through a hurricane” and asserted that in reality none of the film’s events were “camp.”

When directly asked about Gucci family backlash earlier this month, House of Gucci’s director dismissed it. “I don’t engage with that,” Scott said on the BBC’s Today show, per Deadline. “You have to remember that one Gucci was murdered and another went to jail for tax evasion, so you can’t be talking to me about making a profit. As soon as you do that, you become part of the public domain.”

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