Mild course language and sexual references
Origin: USA 2009
Director: Anne Fontaine
Featuring: Benoît Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola, Marie Gillain, Emmanuelle Devos
Language: French with subtitles
Running Time: 108 minutes
There have been a number of recent films about Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel, however this offering traces the rise of the haute couture designer from humble beginnings to the glittering heights of the fashion world. Anne Fontaine’s film attempts to lifts the veil on the early years of Gabrielle Chanel. Unfortunately there remains no guarantee that we are getting fact or fiction, since, as many of Chanel’s biographers acknowledge, she was notoriously adept at remaining mysterious and unassailable, ferociously guarding details her austere beginnings. Nevertheless, there is sufficient plausibility –from her beginnings in an orphanage to an unsuccessful singer who segues into a kept woman.
Initially, Chanel attracts the attention of a land baron (Benoît Poelvoorde) to keep her, before making her unwelcome presence felt at his high functions attracting the attention of English businessman known as Boy Capel (Alessandro Nivola). The screenplay has Audrey Tautou depicting Chanel as headstrong and petulant, but her physical cuteness is hard to get past and one suspects that the real Coco may have been made of stronger stuff. Viewers beware, if you are a Chanel aficionado eager to see some classic designs, you maybe left disappointed, as the film ends at exactly the point Chanel’s fashion business gets going.
Source/s: The New Yorker, Margaret Pomeranz
Compiled By: William H. Doudle