A couple of weeks ago I saw the movie Coco Before Chanel (Coco Avant Chanel in French) at The Paris Theater here in Manhattan. I went with my step-mom, Kitty, and we both loved this film. The Paris Theater is my favorite movie theater in all of New York, not only for its beautiful location right in the heart of the Upper East Side, surrounded by all the chicest shops and bordered by the entrance Central Park—horse drawn carriages and all—but also for its old-world New York vibe, cleanliness, helpful staff, and very comfortable seating. It is always my first pick of theater whenever it happens to be showing my film of choice. I had wanted to see Coco Before Chanel ever since I first heard about the buzz it had generated at the Telluride Film Festival, so when Kitty suggested that we go view it before our planned dinner date, I excitedly agreed.
Review
Coco Before Chanel
A Film by Anne Fontaine
We both thought the film was very well done and that Audrey Tautou played an excellent Gabrielle Chanel. I took a History of Fashion course at FIT when I was a freshman there, and I am an avid fan and vintage collector of all things Chanel (I’ve got a couple great finds straight out of grandma’s closet!), so I was already well-versed on Chanel’s life story, but seeing it played out on the big screen, and in French no less, absolutely captured my heart and made me feel so incredibly moved.
Her life was literally a rags to riches story; she was a woman who sought success and who, once she set her mind on something, would settle for no less than perfection. Her sense of style was completely “out there” for her times, and people actually found her to be—get this—unfeminine. People now look to design houses such as Chanel as the utter definition of femininity, so although I knew her look was controversial for its time, I had no idea just how haughtily people truly did turn their noses down at her when she first began designing. Her signature look was to take items from menswear and transform them into outfits made for women. Society ladies worried that without all the frills and glitz and feathers strewn onto their outfits, people would not think them wealthy enough to afford such garish adornments! Eventually though, people began to view Chanel’s understated elegance as refined luxury, and her designs became hugely successful.
The backbone of Coco Before Chanel is the love story between Chanel and Arthur “Boy” Chapel (Alessandro Nivola). Coco was for many years a “kept woman,” residing at the home of millionaire Étienne Balsan (Benoît Poelvoorde), and she met Boy while she was living with Étienne as his mistress. Boy had been Étienne’s best friend, and though Étienne was hurt by their relationship, he did his best to stay out of it and allow Coco the chance to pursue true love…that is, until Coco discovered Boy had a secret, and that fate had other things in mind for them. I won’t give away the big spoiler here, as it is a major twist in the story, but suffice to say that despite his flaws Coco was madly in love with Boy, and he was a huge support to her and her blooming business both emotionally and financially. My only complaint is that the movie did not delve into Chanel’s life at all post becoming financially independent of men. Throughout the entire movie she is reliant on the kindness of men to get her through the day to day, and I would have liked to have seen just a bit of Coco après Chanel, which I think would have really keyed in on and emphasized that independent spirit so inherent to Chanel’s character.
Movie Trailer:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvDFPjx-uBU&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f]
Coco Before Chanel opened 9/25 to limited audiences in Los Angeles and New York, and opened to more cities on Friday 10/30, so be sure to check your local listings. It will be available to even more areas come November (click here to see a complete list of theaters and showings). This film is a must-see for anyone interested in fashion or in a heart-wrenching tale of love, loss, and an incredible woman who rose above her station in life as an abandoned child to become the greatest fashion designer the world has ever known.
Jealous!!
I was thinking of seeing a movie that theater during a trip to NYC. The movie sounds good! Do you know how long it will be there?
I saw the movie in Toronto a couple of weekends ago and loved it too. Parts of the movie dragged for me and some of the allusions to her sources of inspiration seemed obvious and forced (ie., seeing sailors in striped t-shirts and then adopting them herself), but it was delightful nonetheless. I can never get enough Chanel!
Hi Jenny!
The Paris Theatre is lovely, I would highly recommend seeing something there the next time you're in New York! I'm not sure how long Coco Before Chanel will be playing at this particular theatre, and their website does not give any indication of what will be playing next, either. But they do tend to keep the same film going for a while most of the time, so it is very likely that they will continue to play Coco Before Chanel well into November. I'll be sure to let you know if I find out its final showing date there.Ingrid, as soon as I saw those sailors on the beach I whispered to Kitty, "I bet she's going to start wearing nautical clothing now!" and sure enough, in the very next scene she began sporting the navy and white striped tee. I agree with you that some aspects did seem forced, and as I noted in my review, I would have liked to have seen the film play a bit more into her successful years, rather than leaving off immediately after her show. But all in all, a very good biopic. Glad to hear you enjoyed it as much as I did! 
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Allie, I've been excited about seeing this movie for a while, and I love Audrey Tatou … but I'm troubled by the fact that this movie, and the other, recent film about Coco that starred (sort-of) Shirley MacLaine (huh????) as an older Coco, utterly omit the less pleasant parts of her life. She was reputed to have been a Nazi sympathizer and had at least one Nazi lover during the Germans' occupation of Paris. It wasn't all about being a revolutionary designer, or a modiste up from the slums.
Leslie, if I'm not mistaken, Chanel's relationship with the Nazi soldier didn't occur until after her success, and since this movie only covers her life before she became famous–and perhaps, before she may have formed such opinions–I suppose that gave the film's creators reason enough to leave it out (not that this excuses them for excluding such pertinent info on their protagonist, but it at least explains their rationale; besides, I doubt the movie would have had as much commercial success had they included that bit of damaging info!). I read a biography of Chanel a couple of years ago and learned that she was actually arrested after France was liberated for her suspected activity with the Nazis, but was later released after Winston Churchill insisted upon her innocence. I'm sure the arrest didn't help her reputation, which explains why she ran off to Switzerland so quickly thereafter.In fact, I also read somewhere that after her breakup with the Nazi officer, Chanel threatened to run to her friend Churchill with "inside information". Chanel was the type of person who would do absolutely anything to get ahead and keep her business afloat, so her affair with the Nazi, though absolutely repulsive, didn't really surprise me very much. Some even say she was with him just so she could continue residing at The Ritz Carlton, which was taken over by the Nazis at the time (talk about a lack of scruples). A lot of people call her an Anti-Semite, but I find that somewhat difficult to believe; she may have appeared to have been that way outwardly during the war and by nature of her personal relationship with the Nazi officer, but The House of Chanel had a longstanding business partnership with the Wertheimer brothers, who at one point owned 70% of the perfume sector of Chanel's business, and I doubt she would have hired two Jewish men to handle her business in the first place if she was a true subscriber of Nazi philosophy.
Allie, I'm so impressed with your comprehensive knowledge of Coco Chanel's background. I think the best way to describe that period of her life (and come to think of it, all of her life), would be "opportunistic." I believe, as talented as she was, she saw the world in terms of herself and not the wider picture, except as it affected her customer base.
Leslie, I think "opportunistic" is the perfect word to describe Chanel. While she did create absolutely beautiful designs, she would do pretty much anything to stay in business, regardless of the effect it may (or may not) have had on her conscience.
I have also just seen the TV movie with Shirley Maclaine.It was very interesting but the real story, told in flashback,stopped between the wars.And there was only a little information about how she returned to the world of fashion in the 1950s.I think telling the story like this is a good way to avoid the controversy without blatantly ignoring it.And thanks for the video clip. I was suddenly swept with nostalgia for how much I used to enjoy speaking French
Esther, you and Leslie are making me really want to see this Shirley Maclaine movie! I just checked the Blockbuster website and it looks like it's only available for purchase, not rental, at my local store. I will find a way! Where there's a will, there's a way!
The way it sounds, the producers probably formatted the movie this way specifically so that they could skip over the controversy. I love the Coco Avant Chanel trailer. I don't speak French, but it sure does make me want to learn! I'm currently trying to learn Italian, perhaps French will be next…