Coco, with Very Little Chanel: A Review

Coco Before Chanel is not a movie about fashion--it is a movie about inspiration. True to the title, Coco Before Chanel, the latest Chanel biopic, follows the life of Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel in the era before interlocking C's became synonymous with good taste. While "Coco Before Chanel" does not follow Chanel's creative process, it is a fairly well-made period piece. It is visually pleasing but ultimately unsatisfying.

The woman now synonymous with Parisian chic came from humble beginnings. Abandoned by her father, Coco, played by Audrey Tatou (Amelie), and her sister, grew up in an austere Catholic orphanage. After leaving the orphanage, they work as seamstresses by day and perform as a sister act at night in a saloon. There, Chanel meets the aristocrat Étienne Balsan (Benoît Poelvoorde). The slightly buffoonish but light-hearted Étienne dubs her Coco, after a song she sings about a lost dog named Coco. Étienne soon leaves the small town to return to his home outside of Paris, and Coco, after giving up her hopes for the stage, follows him to his large country estate. She becomes his mistress and lives there until Arthur "Boy" Capel (Alessandro Nivola, Mansfield Park) sweeps her off her feet. Coco decides never to marry, and the now-married Boy gives her money for her millinery business, which turns into her famous atelier.

The movie fills all of the period film requisites: rich and sweeping visuals, as well as interesting costumes and an emotionally moving score. Most of the action takes place not in Paris, but in the countryside. The camera lingers on the greens and browns of the grass, trees and lichen. When not focusing on the surrounding natural beauty, the camera emphasizes Coco's otherness in her new, frivolous surroundings. She is often pictured looking lost amidst an unfocused sea of frippery. At first, this cinematographic method works, but it eventually becomes annoying. It tries too hard to portray the lonely burden of genius.

Even without the cameras help, Tatous's costumes stick out like a sore thumb. Chanel wears dark colors, often black, which look strange in a sea of fluffy pastes. Again the camera lingers on the excesses of the times' fashions, lace necks dripping with pearls, complicated trains and extravagant hats. As Chanel criticizes Edwardian style to Boy, the camera silently judges.

But it also emphasizes the origins of Coco's inspiration. Boy always wears a white camellia in his buttonhole, which became the house's symbolic flower; the signature tweeds from Étienne's country attire. The connection between Chanel's design innovations and the inspiration is made most obviously when Chanel asks Boy what his polo shirt is made from. He responds with a smile and a reverential whisper, "Jersey." The movie nearly clubs you round the head to get that point across.

The storyline is the weakest part of Coco Before Chanel. It revolves around Chanel's relationships with Étienne and Boy. According to the movie, her love for Boy and distress at his death is only reason she started designing. On the other hand, the writer tries to portray her as an independent woman and feminist heroine ahead of her time. But even with an actress like Tatou, Chanel comes off as hypocritical and ungrateful.

Chanel shows up unasked and unannounced at Étienne's beautiful country house and repeatedly refuses to leave. Étienne allows her to stay if she sleeps with him and stays out of the way. Chanel gets mad, yet she knew what she was getting into; earlier in the movie, she counseled her sister not to do the exact same thing. Unhappy with her gilded cage, Chanel throws tantrums. She calls Étienne a boor and tells him his friends only like him because he's rich. The irony is that she showed up unannounced and only stays because of his wealth; she certainly does not respect him.

The writer sets up Boy Capel, the love of Chanel's life, as Étienne's complete opposite. He wears dapper suits instead of dowdy tweeds; he reads, works for a living and plays the piano. Unlike Étienne, he appreciates Chanel's simple, tailored style. But he too is callous and marries for money. But he too views her as a commodity. Boy asks, "Do you mind if I borrow her for two days?"
Étienne replies, "Do you like her that much?"
Boy responds, "Do you?"

This entire interaction takes place while the two men examine Boy's new sports car and you half-expect him to swap his car for Chanel. Alessandro Nivola plays beautiful Boy, he manages to look both smoldering and understanding at the same time. He looks like he truly loves her. Yet, Boy funds her shop with his rich wife's money and Coco sleeps with him. For Harvard women this idea that one can only get ahead through her feminine wiles is particularly troubling. Luckily, being here gives us advantage over Coco. But it teaches us that our hero(ine)s, no matter how elegant are not always perfect.

While Coco Before Chanel is visually strong and fairly entertaining, the storyline leaves much to be desired. Coco's simple, menswear innspired pieces (literally constructed from her gentlemen companions' clothing) mirror the latest menswear trend. She looks chic in black and jodphurs, a fashionista ahead of her time. I’ll take the Chanel over Coco any day.