Directed by
Anne Fontaine
105 minutes
Rated PG
Reviewed by
Sharon Hurst
Coco Avant Chanel
Synopsis: In France in 1893, two sisters, Gabrielle (Audrey Tautou) and Adrienne (Marie Gillain), are abandoned by their father to an orphanage. Fifteen years later they are singing cabaret style in a local dive and earning extra money by mending clothes. Gabrielle is dubbed ‘Coco’ by wealthy Etienne Balsan (Benit Poelvoorde) who takes her under his wing and into his bed. Coco notices, with distaste, all the frilly, restrictive fashions of Balsan’s wealthy entourage, and begins to design hats and clothes that are more masculine, with cleaner lines and fewer restrictions. Though emotionally aloof, when Coco meets Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel (Alessandro Nivola) she falls head over heels in love.As the title suggests, Anne Fontaine’s film charts the period of Coco Chanel’s life before she rises to iconic status in the fashion world. Maybe because of this, there is a certain sluggishness to the film in the early sections, as the director pointedly portrays what a humble and menial start to her life Coco had. A little too much is made of the overly cute song Coco sings in the cabaret (about a dog named Coco, hence the epithet she is given).
However once life moves to the wealthy mansion of Balsan, and the Paris ‘elegentsia’ get centre stage things start to lift. The scenes of the decadent, indulgent life led by Balsan and his coterie are most handsomely crafted and filmed, with superb recreations of the fashion of the day, along with the opulence of French aristocratic life. By contrast Coco is a strange, almost masculine being in the middle of all this lace and corsetry.
Tautou plays Coco as a taciturn, slightly abrasive character, who smokes way too much, and insists on wearing men’s clothes. She seems almost surly, that is, until Arthur breaks into her life, and then she smiles, laughs and radiates love. The camera loves her face, especially those liquid brown eyes, which are exploited to the max in most scenes. With Arthur’s financial backing she enters the world of millinery, designing chic and elegant hats for all Balsan’s friends.
The very unusual relationship between Balsan and Arthur, who both love Coco, is treated in that typically French way – yes, the men are jealous of each other and yet behave in so civilized a manner. The two male leads handle their roles with panache and aplomb, with Poelvoorde having an insouciant charisma that makes for a fascinating screen presence and Nivola just plain gorgeous as the debonaire ‘Boy’.
Though the film deals with Coco’s life before her fame, it does of course look at the beginnings of her foray into creating the iconic clothing for which she is famed. It is at these moments, towards the end of the film, that it really begins to soar, but perhaps a little too late. The final scenes are absolutely beautiful, and Tatou seems to have also transformed by this point into a woman of absolute poise and grace.
Though not a film to set the world on fire, Coco Avant Chanel is intrinsically interesting, and a must for anyone with a penchant for haute couture.
Want something different?
