COCO CHANEL & IGOR STRAVINSKY
4 out of 5 stars

such a BEAUTIFUL film about the relationship/love affair between fashion designer coco chanel and russian composer igor stravinsky! with this film, i don’t think i liked it so much for the acting per se, but more for the costume design (chanel’s outfits…LOVE!) as well as coco’s beautiful countryside villa, where most of the film takes place… ;)



it all starts out BRILLIANTLY with the disastrous opening debut of igor stravinsky’s “rite of spring” in paris 1913. all classical and non-classical musicians know that this particular debut won the award of “shit-hitting-the-fan” moment of the 20th century due to the fact that the dissonance of the music and bizarre choreography of said piece caused a major RIOT. (i wish i was kidding, but i’m not…) people are yelling obscenities, throwing things at the dancers, all the while, coco chanel is sitting calmly in her theatre seat, moved by the music. she really was a woman ahead of her time, certainly… fast forward to seven years, and coco and igor meet again at an after party. she allows him to stay at her countryside villa outside of paris, and he and the rest of the stravinsky clan move in. god knows what chanel was thinking at the time, but her good deed turns into a love affair with the composer, and you probably can guess the rest… ;)


this version of chanel was quite different from the one portrayed by audrey tatou in coco before chanel. this version was the sophisticated, bitchy, perfectionist chanel that makes her a fashion designer by default. with a cigarette always hanging from her mouth, chanel thinks she’s just as an artist as stravinsky. she even admits that in a scene, where she claims she doesn’t make sketches beforehand, just like stravinsky plays what comes to him first on the piano. famed danish actor mads mikkelsen (we know him as the teary-eyed villain in casino royale) plays the famous composer, and does a brilliant job portraying the cool yet complicated musical figure as well as mastering 2 languages (he speaks in both russian and french) in 1 film! (impressive…) i think my only gripe is the mere fact that this is all FICTION. the story is based on a 2002 book written by a british poet , but who’s to say we can’t use our imagination and wonder what would have happen between such great figures in both fashion and musical culture? ;)