Factual error: When Patrizia Reggiani signs cheques on her father's behalf, the bank that issues them is "Banca di Credito Colli Briani." Reasonably enough, is a completely made up name for a bank, but also bizarre because "Colli Briani" would be a toponym ("Briani Hills") but does not match any name in Italy - at most "Colli Briantei", which would be the Brianza region, not far from Milan where the story takes place. No other names of places or people in the rest of the movie are fictional. Moreover, the cheques don't have the number of the account they are associated with, and they are out of order. (00:03:40)
Factual error: When Patrizia is stalking Maurizio pretending to read some law book from the university, she's leaning against a shelf that sports a grey book by the title "Formazione; I metodi." On the book, you can see the logo of the publisher, Raffaello Cortina Editore, founded in 1980. The scene is set in 1978 (the book is from 2014, incidentally, and the scene was shot at the Cortina bookstore). Another even more obviously anachronistic book is next to Maurizio on the lower shelf; about the regulations of the European Union, which didn't exist at the time. (00:08:25)
Factual error: When Maurizio notices Patrizia peeking at him from behind the law book, you get a look at the bottom shelves of the store. A large book bears the title "Come funziona la psicologia", Italian version of a Jo Hemmings book from 2019. The scene is set in 1978. (00:08:30)
Continuity mistake: Patrizia says the kinda dumb line about being bored by reading. Adam Driver looks a little on the dejected side, holding two books in hand. At the cut when she asks him what are those books about, the books are tilted in the opposite direction. (00:09:20)
Factual error: The scene inside the bookstore takes place in March 1978, as shown also by the calendar behind Adam Driver, which says "March 1978." But, it's not a March 1978 calendar. The Sundays (marked in red) don't match. They just took whatever calendar they had and changed the top. (00:09:40)
Factual error: Lady Gaga is painting her toenails listening to some music on her portable cassette player. It's 1978, and walkman-type players were introduced the year after. (00:11:00)
Factual error: Adam Driver and Lady Gaga are eating some street food in Piazza del Duomo in Milan after trying the expensive and historic Savini restaurant. The scene begins with in frame the sign of the jewelry store Currado, a brand established in the 90s and that opened that particular store in 2007. (00:12:00)
Continuity mistake: Patrizia is having lunch with her future father-in-law at the historic Terrazza Gallia restaurant in Milan. She jumps nervously when he first addresses her; during this transition, the waiter who just tilted the bottle up is still pouring with the bottle tilted down in the second shot, and a waiter that was taking care of the table behind Lady Gaga disappears. (00:15:15)
Factual error: In the opening view of the lunch where Maurizio's father meets Patrizia and is less than impressed by her, an elderly lady is reading a newspaper. On the newspaper there' s the ad for "Il profumo del potere", which is the Italian version of TV miniseries/soap "Bare essence", judging from the photo the two-part, 4-hour version. It came out in Italy in December 1983, and the scene is set in the late '70s. (00:15:15)
Continuity mistake: Rodolfo during lunch tells the story of how young Maurizio who brought a moment of levity to his wife's funeral. When the camera is behind Jeremy Irons' head, the cigarette smoke signals that the hand out of frame is raised. In the shot from the side of the table, the cigarette is on the table, and you can see the smoke disperse before it reaches the level of the other shots. (00:17:10)
Continuity mistake: Look at the level of the wine in Maurizio and Patrizia's glasses when Rodolfo during their lunch date mentions the saddest moment of his life. The glasses are fuller when Patrizia takes his hand a few seconds later. (00:17:15)
Audio problem: Rodolfo is watching the old movie reel after lunch with Patrizia. He greets his song saying "Ah, Maurizio", but his mouth does not move. (00:18:15)
Continuity mistake: When Rodolfo tells his son to do whatever with Patrizia but "No, not marry", the handkerchief disappears from his hand in the reverse shot. (00:20:05)
Revealing mistake: When Maurizio has a water fight with one of the truck drivers, above the logo of the fictitious company "Corriere F. Reggiani" on the window of the truck you can see the logo of "F.lli Zucchetto", (Zucchetto Brothers) the real company owning the truck, who organizes real life gatherings of vintage truck owners. (00:22:50)
Continuity mistake: The wedding scene has a POV from Patrizia's perspective as she walks down the aisle. She passes by a cute girl with braids, goes well past her, but in the reverse angle that follows she is in front of her still and says hi. (00:26:20)
Other mistake: When Al Pacino reads the magazine (Grazia) with the news of Maurizio's wedding, the article is probably a reproduction (with the actors' picture in place of the actual Maurizio and Patrizia) of a news story about the actual wedding, so the details conflict entirely with the fabricated story. You can easily read (in Italian of course) that they met in 1971 (1978 in this movie), there are over 500 guests to the wedding (much more of a private affair here) and Maurizio had to ask some of his friends to introduce Patrizia to him and asked her out, which is the opposite of what happens here. (00:28:40)
Factual error: Rodolfo's brother Aldo has a real knack for business, since he comes with a business proposition to sell Gucci products at the Gotemba Mall in Japan in 1980, when the mall opened in the year 2000. (00:29:50)
Character mistake: Aldo tells Rodolfo to reconcile with his son, saying "Sunday is my birthday." Aldo Gucci was born on May 26th, which was not a Sunday in 1980 nor 1981, which is when the scene would take place. (00:31:30)
Factual error: During Aldo's phone call to the newlyweds, above the washing machine there's a bottle of "Omino Bianco" laundry detergent. It's an Italian brand that in the 80s was exclusively an additive bleach in powder form, the one in the movie is the modern liquid detergent version. (00:33:30)
Continuity mistake: When Aldo invites Maurizio to play a heated game of calcio fiorentino at the villa, the people lounging in the background change position between shots. (00:34:20)
Answer: Yes. Basically, within the narrative of the film, Maurizio is weak-willed and easily manipulated by Patrizia; he didn't even want to be involved in running Gucci in the first place and has no real business acumen. So, he both overextends the firm and spends a huge amount of money on an extravagant lifestyle, which leaves him in financial trouble and at the mercy of a hostile takeover.