Anne Fontaine’s new film, a biopic about the great lady of fashion – Coco Chanel – is mostly about her earlier years before she reached fame and fortune. We mention some spoilers ahead, so if you don’t want to know about them before seeing the movie, don’t keep reading.
Gabrielle Chanel was abandoned by her father along with her sister in a Catholic monastery at the tender age of 12. He never came back for her. Years later, we find her working as a seamstress and at night she performs in a cabaret singing Qui qu’a vu Coco dans l’Trocadéro ?( Who’s seen Coco in the Trocadero ?) where she earns the nickname of Coco. One man shows interest in that strange proud young girl, Etienne Balsan, a millionaire and womanizer who will open the doors of an all new world filled with rich men, actresses and courtesans. Her relationship with Balsan is unstable, he maintains her at arm length and she gets bored easily by a life of idleness in his chateau. Her nonconformity towards fashion marks her an originale, a young woman with a fiery attitude and a tremendous sense of style who refuses to follow the rules. Slowly, she starts creating hats for Balsan’s lady friends and making herself a name. In one of the parties organized by her lover, she meets Arthur Capel, known as Boy. They fall in love. He will help her to get her independency and reach for her dreams. The affair continued for years until tragedy strikes her life again…
The physical resemblance between Coco Chanel and Audrey Tatou is uncanny. The eyes, the poses, the attitude is Chanel all over. She is Chanel. Since the beginning of the story you can sense this girl will conquer your heart, her fragile androgynous body in contrast with her strength and desire of independence, always refusing to be a wife remaining unmarried all her life. The casting was absolutely perfect, we couldn’t imagine anyone else in this role.
We were rather surprised by the choice of the actor who played Etienne Balsan. Benoît Poelvoorde is a very talented actor, but we mostly saw him in comedy roles and even the more dramatic ones always had a very acid sense of humor. In Coco Avant Chanel, we can also see that humor, even if his loneliness and detachment is more obvious. Balsan’s friendship with Coco lasted his lifetime and we can feel a very deep chemistry between the two actors, as if they knew each other for years. Balsan is not always a pleasant man, but we feel he cares for Coco in his own way.
In the other hand, Boy Capel (Alessandro Nivola) was definitely less gripping. We liked his gentleness and the way he looked at his lover, admiring her strong personality, nonetheless there was a lack of natural that was sometimes distracting. Maybe it was the language barrier, since the actor is English (like the real Boy) and he was speaking French with a very strong accent.
A special mention to Marie Gillian who was Chanel’s aunt, Adrienne (they had the same age). While not often on the screen, or as much as we wanted to, she always brings quite a spark and playfulness to the story.
Some liberties were taken with Coco Chanel’s life story but nothing that would ruin the movie or trouble your enjoyment. This is not the movie of the year, but it’s definitely something for everyone who loves to see stories about strong-willed women who were never afraid to get what they wanted, despite what the outcome might be.
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1035736/
Release dates: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1035736/releaseinfo
