Lagerfeld Confidential

French filmmaker Rodolphe Marconi's portrait of Karl Lagerfeld, the German-born designer who jump-started the moribund House of Chanel in the early 1980s, isn't an up-close and personal expose of the man behind the carefully cultivated persona. And perhaps it could never have been: The more Marconi tries to draw out Lagerfeld's secrets, the more it appears that Lagerfeld is a sphinx who has none.

Marconi spent two years with Lagerfeld, filming him as he sketched designs, prepped shows, photographed models, attended the ballet, went to nightclubs, shmoozed with wealthy couture clients and rubbed shoulders with glitterati like Nicole Kidman. Lagerfeld sat for...