Coco Avant Chanel [Coco Before Chanel] (***)
Directed by: Anne Fontaine
Starring: Audrey Tautou, Benoît Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola, Marie Gillian, Emmanuelle Devos
Seen: September 7th 2009
*** Out of ****
I don’t know much about Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel (Tautou), and that isn’t a prerequisite for seeing this movie. In fact, it is not even a necessity to know (or care much) about fashion to see this movie. The film starts with Gabrielle peering through a curtain into a French bar, just before she and her sister, Adrienne (Gillian) go on stage to perform the classic French song, Coco. They are dressed very conservatively, and this eventually leads to them losing their job at this particular bar. But not before Adrienne meets a baron and forcefully introduces Gabrielle to Étienne Balsan (Poelvoorde), who calls her Coco as he finds it more fitting than Gabrielle, in town finishing a stint with the military before heading back to his country mansion close to Paris.
Adrienne is romantically whisked away by the baron, leaving Coco all alone, occupied with her day-job as a seamstress. She decides to go visit her sister, but on the way actually ends up at Balsan’s mansion, and pretty much moves in. At first Balsan doesn’t want Coco to be seen at his raucous parties, since she is always plainly, and mannishly dressed, and his friends are pretty much polar opposites. But Coco worms her way into the limelight, her plain-looking dress code and all, and also endears herself to one of Balsan’s former lovers, Emilienne d’Alençon (Devos). Slowly but surely, Coco starts becoming interested in fashion, and makes more and more clothes for herself out of shirts and other clothing items she takes from Balsan’s closets. At every opportunity she derides the dress sense of the day, shooting down corsets and unnecessary adornments on women’s dresses and hats, rather opting for a much simpler and more elegant look. Three standout moments for me were 1) when Coco stares in wide eyed wonder at the fashion at a horse race 2) when Coco visits the beach with Arthur, nicknamed Boy (Nivola) and mocks the fashion there, and 3) when Coco designs her own dress for a party, a simple and very elegant (not necessarily in those days) black dress, and has a great evening dancing and dining with Boy.
Tautou gives a splendid performance as Coco Chanel, as she most always does, and the transformation she undergoes during the film is so subtle you might not even notice it. But if you do you’ll see that it is a big one, and Tautou pulls it of without breaking a sweat. Alessandro Nivola is surprisingly tender and French (I did not know) as Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel, a British businessman who deals quite a bit with Balsan. Benoît Poelvoorde as Balsan gives probably the most nuanced performance of the film, as a seemingly boorish military man who takes Coco in and alternately allows Coco her freedoms and threatens her with the possibility of being put out of the house. But eventually Balsan turns out to be one of the main protagonists, and the viewer’s heart warms up to what starts out as a rowdy man in a bar, ogling women and partying hard.
Coco Avant Chanel is a beautiful little movie that touches on the bad luck some can have with love, but does so in a very hopeful way, never allowing itself to wallow in self pity, but rather giving us a bittersweet ending of a successful woman who overcame loneliness by constantly re-inventing herself.
Starring: Audrey Tautou, Benoît Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola, Marie Gillian, Emmanuelle Devos
Seen: September 7th 2009
*** Out of ****
I don’t know much about Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel (Tautou), and that isn’t a prerequisite for seeing this movie. In fact, it is not even a necessity to know (or care much) about fashion to see this movie. The film starts with Gabrielle peering through a curtain into a French bar, just before she and her sister, Adrienne (Gillian) go on stage to perform the classic French song, Coco. They are dressed very conservatively, and this eventually leads to them losing their job at this particular bar. But not before Adrienne meets a baron and forcefully introduces Gabrielle to Étienne Balsan (Poelvoorde), who calls her Coco as he finds it more fitting than Gabrielle, in town finishing a stint with the military before heading back to his country mansion close to Paris.
Adrienne is romantically whisked away by the baron, leaving Coco all alone, occupied with her day-job as a seamstress. She decides to go visit her sister, but on the way actually ends up at Balsan’s mansion, and pretty much moves in. At first Balsan doesn’t want Coco to be seen at his raucous parties, since she is always plainly, and mannishly dressed, and his friends are pretty much polar opposites. But Coco worms her way into the limelight, her plain-looking dress code and all, and also endears herself to one of Balsan’s former lovers, Emilienne d’Alençon (Devos). Slowly but surely, Coco starts becoming interested in fashion, and makes more and more clothes for herself out of shirts and other clothing items she takes from Balsan’s closets. At every opportunity she derides the dress sense of the day, shooting down corsets and unnecessary adornments on women’s dresses and hats, rather opting for a much simpler and more elegant look. Three standout moments for me were 1) when Coco stares in wide eyed wonder at the fashion at a horse race 2) when Coco visits the beach with Arthur, nicknamed Boy (Nivola) and mocks the fashion there, and 3) when Coco designs her own dress for a party, a simple and very elegant (not necessarily in those days) black dress, and has a great evening dancing and dining with Boy.
Tautou gives a splendid performance as Coco Chanel, as she most always does, and the transformation she undergoes during the film is so subtle you might not even notice it. But if you do you’ll see that it is a big one, and Tautou pulls it of without breaking a sweat. Alessandro Nivola is surprisingly tender and French (I did not know) as Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel, a British businessman who deals quite a bit with Balsan. Benoît Poelvoorde as Balsan gives probably the most nuanced performance of the film, as a seemingly boorish military man who takes Coco in and alternately allows Coco her freedoms and threatens her with the possibility of being put out of the house. But eventually Balsan turns out to be one of the main protagonists, and the viewer’s heart warms up to what starts out as a rowdy man in a bar, ogling women and partying hard.
Coco Avant Chanel is a beautiful little movie that touches on the bad luck some can have with love, but does so in a very hopeful way, never allowing itself to wallow in self pity, but rather giving us a bittersweet ending of a successful woman who overcame loneliness by constantly re-inventing herself.
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