I read, on the cover of the film's DVD case in fact, that an American publication entitled More Magazine stated this as being "the most stylish film since Sex and the City", a quite ludicrous and rather frightening comparison to a film that had no right to even exist. Whilst Sex and the City revelled in its labels and consumerism; rolling in them like a pig in its filth amidst flashy editing and colourful backdrops, 2009 French film Coco Before Chanel covers a woman certainly with an interest in clothes and clothing, but as an individual striving where she didn't need to; engaging in relationships with men, like the Sex in the City girls, but coming to identify with these relationships and putting her experiences in this field into her work. If there is a connection between the two, it's that women apparently work towards labels; only in generations of old, they were opinionated and strived towards the creation and manifestation of a label, of a 'vision'; but women of a more contemporary nature, at least going by Sex and the City's message, supposedly strive towards merely owning labels, and that life begins and ends in living amongst labels. Why the distributors went with this quotation in order to act as a chief sale on the film, I'll never know.
But to say Coco Before Chanel is good in comparison to the Sex and the City film is feint praise. In its own right, the film is an intriguing and involving piece telling the story of a young Gabrielle Chanel (Tautou) from her years at an orphanage right up to a successful premiering, during her later adult years, of her clothing and hat line in France. I found it refreshing in its documenting of a woman's progress in a male dominated world; its utilisation of the death of another male character so as to further the development of a lead female, rather than the other way around and its ability to unfold in a world rich in mise-en-scene but be able to retain that ability to keep an eye on how to reign in all the visualness unravelling to present humbling surroundings when needs be.
The film covers Chanel's early life; the people she met; the friends she made and the tragedies that befell her, with the first time we see her as a nine year old girl being delivered to an orphanage with her sister by her father. The world around her shot as this scary, looming place; the building in which she will spend the rest of her childhood standing tall through the slats in the tree branches during the drive up to the entrance. People are turned away from her, their faces off limits as Coco connects with what it is some of the people are wearing in the form of their headgear. But the first instances of what made Chanel so renowned is initially played down when she engages in it. The sequences of sewing or maintenance towards clothing are shot with a very greyed out cinematography earlier on, echoing her then attitudes towards such activities; with singing and dancing and performance given a highly colourful and extravagant hue on screen as she focuses on these items. One instance sees her perform in a large and lavish dining hall to an owner and potential employer in what is a rather colourful and vibrant sequence, but prior and subsequent scenes of the aforementioned sewing seems menial to our lead and thus, enclosed and unwelcoming greyish rooms echo where she is in life in regards to wanting to be a performer and an individual of fashion expertise.
Out of the orphanage, she strikes up a relationship with a certain Baron named Étienne Balsan (Poelvoorde), an individual she met in one of the bars in which she initially sang. Balsan lives in a huge manor house and has a foot in the horse racing community, playing host to a number of racing elitists of whom engage in fancy dinners and activity. Her relationship with Balsan is not just another Hollywood infused male-female relationship that sees a male over here and a female over there with the screenplay just daftly nudging them together when in the real world, they'd repel in an instant. Here, both characters seem to share a respective level. Both are outspoken, both are opinionated; Baslan talks of his relatives in a somewhat dismissive but brutally honest manner, as does Coco later on towards certain items of clothing those around her wear and both of them share an eccentricity that allows them to meet half way despite being of distinct richer and poorer respective backgrounds. We get the feeling these people share distinct characteristics with one another and operate on a particular plain. Later on, another relationship with Arthur Capel (Nivola) will open up enabling further development.
After bedding down at Balsan's manor house, Chanel remains firm in what it is she wants to do despite inhabiting a space with a number of other women whom are only too happy to submit to this objectified existence; her difference in attitude captured by way of the dress-sense, her 'dressing down' and encouraging others to follow suit – if not ideologically, then at least in terms of presentation. If there is any criticism to be aimed at the film, it's that it beds down towards the end a little and submits into consisting of mournful looking people standing around in rooms explaining to one another how they feel and whom they may or may not love. But it's a trivial thing. I went into the film not knowing a thing about Coco Chanel, but came out rather enthralled at both the story and more-so the manner in which it was brought to the screen by female, Luxembourg born writer/director Anne Fontaine; who allows her characters to both breath and progress on a respectfully observed palette.
But to say Coco Before Chanel is good in comparison to the Sex and the City film is feint praise. In its own right, the film is an intriguing and involving piece telling the story of a young Gabrielle Chanel (Tautou) from her years at an orphanage right up to a successful premiering, during her later adult years, of her clothing and hat line in France. I found it refreshing in its documenting of a woman's progress in a male dominated world; its utilisation of the death of another male character so as to further the development of a lead female, rather than the other way around and its ability to unfold in a world rich in mise-en-scene but be able to retain that ability to keep an eye on how to reign in all the visualness unravelling to present humbling surroundings when needs be.
The film covers Chanel's early life; the people she met; the friends she made and the tragedies that befell her, with the first time we see her as a nine year old girl being delivered to an orphanage with her sister by her father. The world around her shot as this scary, looming place; the building in which she will spend the rest of her childhood standing tall through the slats in the tree branches during the drive up to the entrance. People are turned away from her, their faces off limits as Coco connects with what it is some of the people are wearing in the form of their headgear. But the first instances of what made Chanel so renowned is initially played down when she engages in it. The sequences of sewing or maintenance towards clothing are shot with a very greyed out cinematography earlier on, echoing her then attitudes towards such activities; with singing and dancing and performance given a highly colourful and extravagant hue on screen as she focuses on these items. One instance sees her perform in a large and lavish dining hall to an owner and potential employer in what is a rather colourful and vibrant sequence, but prior and subsequent scenes of the aforementioned sewing seems menial to our lead and thus, enclosed and unwelcoming greyish rooms echo where she is in life in regards to wanting to be a performer and an individual of fashion expertise.
Out of the orphanage, she strikes up a relationship with a certain Baron named Étienne Balsan (Poelvoorde), an individual she met in one of the bars in which she initially sang. Balsan lives in a huge manor house and has a foot in the horse racing community, playing host to a number of racing elitists of whom engage in fancy dinners and activity. Her relationship with Balsan is not just another Hollywood infused male-female relationship that sees a male over here and a female over there with the screenplay just daftly nudging them together when in the real world, they'd repel in an instant. Here, both characters seem to share a respective level. Both are outspoken, both are opinionated; Baslan talks of his relatives in a somewhat dismissive but brutally honest manner, as does Coco later on towards certain items of clothing those around her wear and both of them share an eccentricity that allows them to meet half way despite being of distinct richer and poorer respective backgrounds. We get the feeling these people share distinct characteristics with one another and operate on a particular plain. Later on, another relationship with Arthur Capel (Nivola) will open up enabling further development.
After bedding down at Balsan's manor house, Chanel remains firm in what it is she wants to do despite inhabiting a space with a number of other women whom are only too happy to submit to this objectified existence; her difference in attitude captured by way of the dress-sense, her 'dressing down' and encouraging others to follow suit – if not ideologically, then at least in terms of presentation. If there is any criticism to be aimed at the film, it's that it beds down towards the end a little and submits into consisting of mournful looking people standing around in rooms explaining to one another how they feel and whom they may or may not love. But it's a trivial thing. I went into the film not knowing a thing about Coco Chanel, but came out rather enthralled at both the story and more-so the manner in which it was brought to the screen by female, Luxembourg born writer/director Anne Fontaine; who allows her characters to both breath and progress on a respectfully observed palette.