DVD Review

Title: Coco Avant Chanel

Director: Anne Fontaine

Principle Actors: Audrey Tautou, Benoit Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola

Length: 1 hr 50 mins

Release Date: February 16, 2010

Studio: Alliance

French Language with English Subtitles

Reviewed By: Kindah Mardam Bey

Coco Avant Chanel (Coco Before Chanel) is a brilliant film. From Coco’s start in life – being abandoned at an orphanage with her sister at a young age – until her first independence as a designer, it is a time capsule that director Anne Fontaine explores deeply.

Coco Avant Chanel is not the story of a successful woman, but the beginnings of one. Her formative years were not easily paved with gold, as Coco (born with the name Gabrielle) was a seamstress and cabaret singer after she left the orphanage with her sister. With aspirations of becoming a famous singer or actress, the two sisters were open to opportunities that made the miles between them and Paris shorten.

However, Coco’s sister falls in love with a Baron and soon becomes engaged, and Coco moves in with his very wealthy friend Etienne Balsan as a courtesan. Balsan is a garish man who enjoyed lots of parties, breeding horses and often publically humiliating Coco so that she does not forget her station in life. But Coco (Balsan’s nickname for her) was unique, she would regularly cut up his clothes and wear them in an era defined by corsets, long skirts and overbearing hats – all of which were meant to keep women elegant and confined.

Soon enough Coco’s unique style is heralded by Balsan’s female friends and she is asked to keep them in uniquely styled hats. Coco also finds love in the form of British self-made man Arthur “Boy” Capel, a friend of Balsans. Capel and Chanel’s love was immediate and everlasting. Although Coco had many, many, many lovers in her lifetime, she considered the all too short-lived affair with Capel to be the love of her life.

As mentioned, the film is brilliant, and now I should perhaps explain why. This time frame between Coco being a young woman and her owning her first shop in Paris is imperative in how she would eventually become the woman we know her to be. Coco learns early on the constraints of her past (as she lied often about her origins) and the stereotypes of her courtesan status, but her determination and awareness of her good looks opens the door to a society that would eventually make her rich and famous.

The film makes clear that the way Coco views the world is how she would eventually translate that in to design. She looked unlike other women, with a thin and unshapely frame that would eventually become the rage of the 1920s thanks to Coco designing for that body type.

Coco scrutinized the way women dressed in the early 1900s and saw how the corset was the key to unlocking women’s freedom. Few may know the impact of this simple design of Coco Chanel’s as she, unbeknownst to the cultural traditions of the day, slipped in under the radar, no manifesto in hand, and found a way for women to breathe, feel grounded and think for themselves.

Once the corset went, so did the overbearing hats, dressing for two hours each day and in came the dawn of a new age for women. All this from a woman who didn’t want to design clothes and only took to it because everyone else felt she had talent. Coco Avant Chanel pays close attention to the details of what would shape Coco’s future, such as her triumphantly walking through the horse stables and tearing open her restrictive corset – a visual image to mirror her eventual success.

The actors are stunning. Audrey Tautou becomes Coco Chanel; she doesn’t act the part, she truly does become the part. Coco Chanel has a very unique composure about herself, see any pictures of the stunning beauty and you see she has a fierce independent mind and a strong sexual attitude that lured many men along her pathway. Tautou seems to embody this characteristic of Chanel; she is not so much alluring as she is fascinating.

Also, a fantastic performance is put in by Benoit Poelvoorde as Balsan, which you start the film by loathing and end by feeling an immense amount of sympathy for. The third outstanding performance can be seen by Alessandro Nivola as Arthur Capel. Not only does Nivola act and speak dialogue in a different language he had to learn for the film, but he also manages to woo Chanel in her mother tongue and command the presence of the film similar to a silver screen actor. Nivola is the truly most delightful surprise of Coco Avant Chanel.

Despite all the facets of quality, the true words of praise should be showered on director Anne Fontaine, who seemed to know Chanel as a driven woman better than anyone else. Acting as both the director and writer of Coco Avant Chanel, Fontaine was as meticulous and creative about the story, the direction, the performances and the final product, as any season debuted by Chanel ever was.

This film could easily be the starting point for a trilogy that would span Coco Chanel’s life over the decades, but I suspect this film will be a stand-alone. Most women are indebted to this great woman of the last century and Coco Avant Chanel gives us a glimpse as to why.

The special features are also wonderful as they show behind-the-scenes footage, an audio commentary with Anne Fontaine, a “Making Of” and many more selections.

Special Features: Commentary by Director and Writer Anne Fontaine; Coco avant Chanel: La Rencontre (The Meeting); The Making of Coco avant Chanel - The Projet's origins; The Making of Coco avant Chanel - Coco's look; The Making of Coco avant Chanel - An Extraordinary destiny; The Making of Coco avant Chanel - Etienne Balsan; The Making of Coco avant Chanel - Boy Capel; The Making of Coco avant Chanel - Anne Fontaine

Written by :

Kindah

 

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