Review of Coco Before Chanel (2009) by Maxime V — 20 Oct 2011

For some reason I was expecting this film to be more sexy, or delightful, or even more about fashion or what inspired Coco Chanel's sense of fashion in wanting to become a designer. This film was more about Coco's lovelife surrounding two men. That's really all it was about. The way she imposed herself into the life of one man until he submitted to her and then fell for another man while still with the first man, making them fight over her. I don't know know why I'm surprised that this was a total, 100 percent chick flick; perhaps the Chanel name made me think it might have substance. Or the fact that it is a French made film.

There are brief references to fashion, aside from the idea that she was the Annie Hall of her day, mending men's clothes to fit her body due to her refusal to wear frilly women's clothes including corsets and feathers. Other than that, Tautou, who played Coco, couldn't convince me. All I saw was Tautou pretending to be Coco, but perhaps she got the character dead on as a kind of a rigid bitch/tomboy seamstress. Alessandro Nivola, on the other hand, was absolutely delicious as Boy.