Film depicts fashion designer’s life, rise to glamorous triumph
Before Coco was Chanel, the avant-garde founder of a brand synonymous with high fashion, she was simply Coco: a restless spitfire struggling to find her place among the stuffy upperclassmen and women of early 1900s France.
Thus is the story told in “Coco Before Chanel,” an Academy Award-nominated biopic about the famous fashion designer and her ascent to greatness.
The film was released on DVD Feb. 16.
As its title suggests, the biographical flick tells the story of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel (Audrey Tatou), beginning shortly after she and her sister Adrienne (Marie Gillian) are dumped off at an orphanage by their father.
Eventually, the two girls find themselves working as cabaret singers and dancers in a provincial dance hall, where their sole purpose is to entertain seedy male customers.
One of them, the wealthy playboy Étienne Balsan (Benoît Poelvoorde) takes a liking to Coco, and eventually invites her to live with him at his sprawling French estate.
Even in the lap of luxury, however, Coco becomes restless.
Her chain-smoking, horseback-riding, tomboyish style eventually garners the attention of mademoiselles near and far, as well as the affection of English tycoon Arthur “Boy” Capel (Alessandro Nivola), whose love and wealth buy her a new life where her fashions and her spirit can blossom.
It is easy to lose one’s self in the gorgeous realm of “Coco.”
The French landscapes are beautiful and exhilarating. The set design is hauntingly realistic, and the costumes — for which the movie earned its much-deserved Academy Award nod — are exquisite.
Even more wonderful, however, is the story itself. It is heartwarming to watch the hardened, cynical Coco become a loving, successful woman in a world overwhelmingly dominated by men.
Though the movie drags some after the first hour, by doing so it paints an even more effective image of Coco’s life: tragic in the beginning, difficult in the middle, and triumphant in the end.
“Coco Before Chanel” is a beautiful and moving tale of love, loss and triumph.
Even if your boldest fashion choices come from the racks of your local Wal-Mart, you’ll find something to love about “Coco.”
Rating: A-
—Whitney Knight
Staff Writer
