Like her designs, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel was elegant, très chic, and utterly original. Director Anne Fontaine’s French biopic traces Coco (Audrey Tautou) from her childhood as a struggling orphan to one of the most influential designers of the 20th century. You’ll be disappointed if you expect a fashionista’s up close and personal look at the House of Chanel as Fontaine keeps her story firmly rooted in Coco’s past, including her destructive relationship with French playboy, Etienne Balsar (Benoît Poelvoorde) and her ill-fated love affair with the dashing Englishman, Arthur “Boy” Capel (Alessandro Nivola).
The film functions best in scenes that display Coco’s imagination and aesthetic magnetism like when she dances with Capel in her now famous “little black dress” amidst a sea of stiff, white meringues. Tautou imparts a quiet courage and quick wit as the trailblazing designer, and Nivola is unmistakably charming and compassionate as Boy. Nevertheless, Fontaine rushes the ending and never truly seizes the opportunity to explore how Coco’s personal life seeped into her timeless designs that were, in the end, an extension of herself. (Liesl Swanbeck)
Opens at the Landmark Theatres on Friday, August 21st
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment