COCO BEFORE CHANEL
4 out of 5 stars

she wasn’t frivolous. she wasn’t snobby. in fact, she was quite plain but elegant at the same time. and before she was queen of the parisian haute-couture, she was just coco. it’s so great to see a biopic that truly does a great job of portraying one of the most iconic women of the 20th century…. ;)



i’m a big fan of biopics, and this one really captured my eye because coco chanel is just a fabulous designer! (although i do like her perfumes more…) i often feel like the genre of biopic can either be done really well or quite horribly, and that depends on the person/subject at hand. (and also how their story is told… a great example: ray with jamie foxx. i cry everytime i see it… which explains why i own it!) anyway… this movie isn’t as great as ray, but it is quite well done. we start off with young coco at the orphanage where nuns take her in along with her sister adrienne, when her father couldn’t raise her anymore. (kind of like daycare—but not because the parent doesn’t come back) it’s interesting to see that the orphanage and the nuns’ garments was an inspiration for coco chanel’s original designs… then, we see her as a struggling cabaret singer, where she meets etienne balzan, a rich yet older gentleman who ends up putting her up at his chateau in a town near paris. when her sister runs off with a baron, she too runs to etienne’s chateau, then later meets/falls in love with the handsome and charming arthur “boy” capel. (played by alessandro nivola who is HOT, even with his ‘tache. and OMG his french is FLAWLESS!!!)


boy is the one who puts up the money for her to finance her first hat boutique, actually… now that i think of it, he was quite progressive because it was uncommon that women were considered entrepreneurs in those days. (and he helped her achieve that) i think the best part of this movie is how fearless/fierce coco chanel was portrayed. audrey tatou aka amelie plays this refined, elegant, beautiful woman, who had a vision of revolutionizing fashion, and the results are FABULOUS! highly recommend to those who are fashionistas because you see a lot of her visions coming to life thread by thread… best scenes are the parties at the chateau (esp. when the men are throwing darts at a cousin’s painted portrait—WTF!), boy and coco’s seaside adventure, coco working on her designs with a lit cigarette in her mouth. (such a signature look for her…LOVED it)


so, i read on IMDB that there is another coco chanel movie coming out soon, but the focus is on her love affair with igor stravinsky. the norwegians will take a stab at this, and i’m highly curious about what the outcome will be! after this one, I. CANT. WAIT. :)