A movie that is tres chic even if it sometimes resembles those corsets Coco banished, a little stiff and confining.
Coco Before Chanel
Before she was France's famous mademoiselle…
2009 · 1h 50m · PG-13
Drama, History
Directed by
Anne Fontaine
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
- Anne Fontaine Director
- Audrey Tautou as Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel
- Benoît Poelvoorde as Etienne Balsan
- Alessandro Nivola as Arthur "Boy" Capel
- Marie Gillain as Adrienne Chanel
- Emmanuelle Devos as Emilienne
- Régis Royer as Alec, jockey
- Étienne Bartholomeus Cast
- Yan Duffas Cast
- Fabien Béhar Cast
- Roch Leibovici Cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
The thread connecting the ambitious girl to the acclaimed woman is enough to make us wish for a sequel titled Chanel No. 2.
The film is unfailingly funny.
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.
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.
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