PARIS, Dec 16, 2001/ --- Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture is planning a major film soiree in January, when it will unveil two new documentaries about the designer.

The premieres will be held on January 23, the final day of the next French haute couture season when Saint Laurent will stage his spring summer 2002 collection.

The films, "Yves Saint Laurent Le Temps Retrouve" a work largely composed of archive footage, and "5 Ave Marceau", a contemporary look at the fashion house named after the address of its headquarters, are both directed by David Teboul. They are produced by Canal Plus, Europe’s leading pay-per-view network and a major movie producer.

Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge will host the soiree in a still-to-be-decided location in Paris on the night of the screening. The following day, there will be a further screening of the documentaries along with "Belle du Jour," Luis Bunuel’s classically perverse tale that stars Saint Laurent’s great muse, actress Catherine Deneuve.

Choosing the name 5 Ave Marceau is certain to further sew confusion among fashion followers of the house. Earlier this year, another French documentary filmmaker, Olivier Meyrou, filed suit against Berge, in an attempt to overturn a French court's decision to ban Meyrou’s feature-length film on the designer. The name of the banned film is also 5 Ave Marceau.

Even more bizarrely, Meyrou himself made a separate short film also called 5 Ave Marceau for the house of Saint Laurent about the designer’s famed fashion show before the July 1998 World Cup final.

A decision in this court case is not due before March 2002.