Miu Miu and Laura Citarella Unveil a Haunting Fashion Detective Tale at Venice Festival

The Miu Miu Women’s Tales series made a striking return to the Venice Film Festival with the premiere of its 28th commission, El Affaire Miu Miu. Directed by Argentine filmmaker Laura Citarella, the short film is part of Miu Miu's ongoing initiative to invite contemporary female directors to explore themes of vanity, femininity, and the female experience in the 21st century. Citarella's work continues her fascination with female detective figures, or "female Sherlock Holmes" types, who unravel mysteries surrounding women who, for various reasons, choose to escape or disappear.

In El Affaire Miu Miu, Citarella blends her narrative with the world of fashion, specifically Miu Miu clothing, which plays a pivotal role in the film. She describes the challenge of integrating fashion into storytelling, noting that it was crucial to create a synergy between the fantastical landscape of the Argentine Pampas and the Miu Miu brand, where the outfits are not just part of the set but serve as central elements in the narrative. Despite her usual preference for long-form storytelling, Citarella emphasizes that the essence of storytelling is to allow the narrative to unfold in the time it requires, even within the constraints of a short film.

This latest entry in the Miu Miu Women’s Tales series takes the form of a Hitchcockian detective story, driven by female characters and infused with a blend of Italian style and Argentine supernaturalism. The film follows an Italian model who travels to the Argentine Pampas for a Miu Miu fashion campaign. The setting is the small city of Trenque Lauquen, where the Italian crew, including the model, stands out as a spectacle in the local community. However, the narrative takes a mysterious turn when the model suddenly disappears after the shoot.

The film’s detectives, all women from the town, embark on an investigation to locate the missing model. The only clue they have is a series of security camera images showing the model behaving oddly in the streets before vanishing. As they follow the trail of the Miu Miu clothes and the Argentine landscape, the detectives try to piece together the model's movements. Meanwhile, the audience witnesses the model's journey across the Pampas, where she seems to merge with the natural surroundings, becoming almost indistinguishable from the landscape itself. This fusion of character, dress, and place creates a powerful visual metaphor, reflecting the thematic intersection of identity, fashion, and environment.

El Affaire Miu Miu premiered at the Venice Film Festival’s “Giornate degli Autori” on August 31, 2024, alongside a screening of the 27th episode of the Miu Miu Women’s Tales series, titled "I Am the Beauty of Your Beauty, I Am the Fear of Your Fear," directed by Chui Mui Tan. Following its festival debut, the short film will be available on Miu Miu’s digital channels and globally on MUBI starting September 27, offering a broader audience the opportunity to engage with Citarella’s unique cinematic vision that intricately weaves fashion and narrative.