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Poster for Coco Before Chanel

Coco Before Chanel

Before she was France's famous mademoiselle…

2009 · 1h 50m · PG-13 Drama, History
Directed by Anne Fontaine

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Overview

Several years after leaving the orphanage, to which her father never returned for her, Gabrielle Chanel finds herself working in a provincial bar. She's both a seamstress for the performers and a singer, earning the nickname Coco from the song she sings nightly with her sister. A liaison with Baron Balsan gives her an entree into French society and a chance to develop her gift for designing.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
63%
Tomatometer
Fresh

A movie that is tres chic even if it sometimes resembles those corsets Coco banished, a little stiff and confining.

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
Rotten

The thread connecting the ambitious girl to the acclaimed woman is enough to make us wish for a sequel titled Chanel No. 2.

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Fresh

The film is unfailingly funny.

Tom Long, Detroit News
Rotten

Coco Before Chanel only starts to get interesting when she asserts her creative and financial freedom -- and that's right when the movie's about to end.

Christy Lemire, Associated Press
Fresh

We are used to seeing Tautou play the sweetheart. Here, she's anything but. Constantly smoking, dour, unsmiling, critical, she plays a character difficult to warm to but fascinating to watch.

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic

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