Thursday, October 22, 2009
Uncategorized Coco Before Chanel goes back in black
Posted by Debbie Michaud @DebsMichaud on Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 6:00 PM
About midway through Anne Fontaine’s new biopic Coco Before Chanel, the eponymous designer stands mesmerized on the shore of the coastal French town of Deauville. She’s a seaside anomaly, dressed in a loose-fitting, black-and-white tartan dress, as throngs of swimsuit-clad children and their corseted guardians swirl around her. The shot foreshadows Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s toppling of fashion’s garish, early 20th-century establishment. In this moment, Chanel is totally punk rock.
Doe-eyed French starlet Audrey Tautou (Amélie, The Da Vinci Code) plays the legendary Gallic designer, whose rags-to-riches story parallels that of another beloved femme, Edith Piaf. Both were poor little orphan girls, literally forced to sing for their suppers, who ultimately hit it big thanks to some help from their wealthy man-friends. Piaf was immortalized onscreen in 2007’s Oscar-winning La Vie en Rose by the similarly petite and brunette Marion Cotillard. While Cotillard’s Piaf was a ball-busting tour de force, Tautou’s Chanel is more self-deprecating in her brashness. As a result, La Vie en Rose puts audiences through an emotional wringer, but Coco delivers a more muted experience.
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