Coco avant Chanel (2009)
By: Anne Fontaine (director, writer), Camille Fontaine (writer), Edmonde Charles-Roux (book)
Starring: Audrey Tautou, Benoît Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola, Marie Gillain, Emmanuelle Devos
The story of Coco Chanel’s rise from obscure beginnings to the heights of the fashion world.
What an extraordinary woman Coco Chanel was. I didn’t need to see Coco avant Chanel to know that, but it certainly help reaffirm how broad and enduring her legacy is.
Interesting people are easier to create interesting biographies about, no doubt, but it takes a discerning eye to retain a humanity amidst the extraordinary and surprising. Like, for instance, that Coco Chanel was an orphan and a cabaret girl, that she lived as a mistress before moving to Paris and becoming famous. As always, Audrey Tautou is effervescent and does a wonderful job of portraying Chanel’s staunchly held sense of self. As I was watching, I couldn’t help but compare and contrast her performance to that of Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose, but that’s hardly fair: Coco Chanel and Édith Piaf didn’t share much in common aside from the time period in which they lived. Tautou’s performance is understated, much the way Chanel’s designs and Chanel herself were. The supporting cast is mostly forgettable, including Alessandro Nivola, who seems to have difficulty really owning most of the parts I’ve seen him in. That’s all forgivable, though, because the movie is about Chanel, not about everyone else. I think it does her legacy proud.
