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Coco Before Chanel (2009) Certificate 12

Coco Before Chanel
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Rated 3.5 stars
Average rating
(70%)
 
Starring: Audrey Tautou | Alessandro Nivola | Marie Gillain | Emmanuelle Devos | Etienne Bartholomeus | Yan Duffas | Fabien Béhar | Roch Leibovici | Benoit Poelvoorde
Director: Rhonda Garelick, Anne Fontaine, Benoit Poelvoord
Studio: OPTIMUM HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time: 110 mins
Genres: Audio Descriptive | Drama | World Cinema
Languages: French, English Audio Description
Subtitles: English
Released: November 23, 2009

From humble beginnings to the heights of society, this is the astonishing story of Gabrielle Chanel, the legendary couturier who became a timeless symbol of success, freedom and style.

Orphaned at a young age, Coco Chanel was raised in a convent school, where she learned to embroider and sew. Bored and dissatisfied with the living she could earn as a seamstress, she began singing in backstreet cafés and bars, where she attracted the attention of Étienne Balsan, a rich gentleman who immediately became intrigued by the stubborn, striking young ingénue. Swept up in her rich lover’s world, Coco soon drew the eyes of society towards her with her unique, elegant style in a time of flamboyance and excess. Just as controversial was the passionate love affair in which she became embroiled, which shattered the conventions of her society – a love so dangerous and forbidden it threatened to destroy her.

Also featuring Benoît Poelvoorde (Man Bites Dog) and Alessandro Nivola (Mansfield Park, The Eye), Coco Before Chanel stars Audrey Tautou (Amelie, The Da Vinci Code) as Coco, the woman who dared to be different and became an icon!

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Rating of 4 stars out of 5
Time Out

Read our interview with the director of Coco Before Chanel hereBefore Chanel, Coco was a dirt-poor child abandoned at...

Highest rated reviews

65 out of 67 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 5 stars
Mesmerising

Gus2 from , 12th July, 2009

Mesmerising is the word used in the marketing of this movie and mesmerising it is. Tatou is utterly convincing and stunning in the lead role as a young Coco who rebels against the excesses of French society and somehow combines a fragile vulnerability with a steely toughness. Not an easy trick to pull off but she does so flawlessly. If I say any more I am likely to spoil it for you, but the filming and everything else about it do not disappoint either. A high point in Tatou's already glittering career and harbinger of more great performances to come.

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32 out of 35 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 1 stars
A massive dissapointment!

A Customer from SW London, 7th August, 2009

When I was a teenager I loved Chanel, I thought her clothes were stylish and ever so imaginative.In my mind she was to me the epitome of all that is strong and fascinating in a woman. This was well before knowing of her Nazi affiliations and war crime allegations that seemed to have mysteriously gone away.I am not Parisian but like them (and unlike the British and American ) her bizarre need to survive at all costs by being affiliated with the enemy is not forgiven or forgotten.And while her clothing empire has stood the test of time, because she was after all undoubtedly talented, the rest of her private life was never honestly portrayed and too often fictiously glamourised. I could never understand why she never told the truth of her early life, surely that part of her life contributed towards the person she had become and as such did not warrant her feeling of shame.While I still admire her talent, I do not admire her as a person.I realise that she was just power hungry and didn't really feel the need to live her life by any moral code at all, which is a shame. Seeing as the moral code a person lives by will often define a person more precisely than any creative efforts of the person (for me anyway.Many madmen might claim that Hitler was a genius and a brilliant strategist, but what did he contribute to humanity? And this can be said of Chanel, she offered great clothes to the world but when it really counted she failed to offer anything of great value to humankind when it mattered most).So unfortunately this film bored me to death after a while.Tatou as brilliant as she is just did not capture that certain something about Coco, which was always how she 'worked' her eyes and how she looked at you.I saw an interview of Coco Chanel, which was a very rare footage taken after her comback in the 50's.In it she came across as quite austere and relied quite alot in heavy, extended pauses, which was her way of commanding and holding attention. I doubt Tatou bothered to look at rare footage of her, because there wasn't anthing remotely Chanel about her performance.It lacked the complex layers of emotions that made up this completely intriguing woman. The film was long, drawn out and quite frankly lacklustre. I would have welcomed a film that attempted with greater honesty and integrity to capture her whole life and not just glamourised bits and pieces. Quite frankly her romances did not interest me one iota as it lent nothing to explaining anything about her and her life's greatest accomplishments and failures.

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15 out of 15 people found the following review helpful:

*** May contain spoilers ***


Rated 2 stars
Coco Before Chanel

Wynter from , 18th August, 2009

One question that I have never asked myself is ‘what did Coco do before Chanel?’ To be honest I’m not a fashion guy (like Extras‘ Andy Millman I sometimes look at my wardrobe and see Jeremy Clarkson looking back at me), it’s not really something that interests me and, had I not got a ticket for a free screening I’m not entirely sure that I would have found myself sat in a cinema watching Coco avant Chanel (Coco Before Chanel). Following the early years of Chanel’s life the film looks at her dertermination to succeed and celebrates her role in the liberation of women but as a newcomer to the I was left wondering if the film itself was being slightly generous or if the filmmakers had underplayed their hand by assuming that we all knew what she did. It turns out that it might be a little bit of both. Whilst the film is hansomely shot and contains some very good performances (Benoit Poelvoorde is rises above all others with his potrayal of the playboy Etienne Balsan) it never really engages, despite the presence of a central character (played by Audrey Tautou) that exudes determination. Part of the problem is that Chanel empowers herself by gaining access to wealth through sleeping with people. Whilst this idea calls into question conflicting ideas of sexual and social power the film itself never really addresses these issues with the exception of some fleeting dialogue between Chanel and Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel (Alessandro Nivola), proported love of her life and financial backer. This is a film of stories and ideas half told. There is also the lingering though that ‘empowerment’ should amount to more than making one a slightly more comfortable clotheshorse. Oh and then there is World War II… did you know that Chanel hooked up with a Nazi and lived in the Paris Ritz during the war? Neither did I until I read it because it is certainly not mentioned here. Okay, so there is no law that says every life should be covered fully when making a film but, regarding Coco avant Chanel, one can’t help but see how the later ‘behaviour’ (some might say treason) casts new light on the earlier period covered here. Instead of chalking one up for the ladies (as the filmmakers would like you to believe) the grand dame of fashion seems more like an arch self-preservationist than anything else. Challenging the system now seems like simple greed. Now I don’t know if this is anymore an acurate portrayal of Chanel than the film is (infact I do know because no one is that simple) but had the filmmakers taken a much larger slice of her life then I would be in a much better position to judge.

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4 out of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 1 stars
Don't bother this is a story

jeffster from , 6th December, 2009

which takes a long time going nowhere!!!

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Most recent reviews

Rated 3 stars
A bit of milquetoast

VillageVicarage from , 17th March, 2010

If I’m honest with myself, I think I had already formed an opinion of the film before I watched it. I was hoping for two things – a bit of a retrospect on the Chanel magic and what often inspired Mme Coco Chanel in her stunning, yet often simplistically chic creations. And I was hoping to see more of the alluring imagery of Audrey Tautou’s eyes, as viewers were blessed with in films such as Vénus beauté or Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain. Indeed, we were graced with a few long lingering shots of her eyes, but in this instance, they were amidst the backdrop of muted backgrounds, thus allowing the viewer to merely see those unique opaquing onyx gems. I had the honour of meeting Mme Chanel many years ago. From my brief time with her, I’d say Tatou had an almost perfect style in capturing the persona of Mme Chanel. To me, whilst charming and engaging, Mme Chanel appeared to be almost wistful or pensive. The backstory wants us to believe that the haute couture business of Chanel came about as a result of a few hats and a dress or two, put together in a matter of minutes. It obfuscated the reality of what haute couture (high sewing) really entails – countless hours of detailed and pedantic manual work to produce superbly striking fashion. I don’t think this film will be remembered as one of Audrey Tautou’s finest works, but she should be complimented for her dedication towards striving to capture the essence of Mme Chanel. I smiled at the scenes showing Tautou with a cigarette as it reminded me of being shown an ensemble with a price of €6,000. I vividly recall recoiling as I watched a small bit of ash fall from the tip of her cigarette whilst Mme Chanel spoke of the fabric and how she loved the merging of colours similar to a bargello motif. Certainly worth watching if you’re interested in Chanel. Otherwise, there may be other options out there to fill your hundred minutes.

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Rated 1 stars
slow

A Customer from Croydon, 16th March, 2010

I love fashion and was really interested to know how the Chanel name started. However I found the film completley slow to get going. To be honest nothing much happened at all. the English descriptive didn't help when I tried with that either.

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Rated 2 stars
Pretty to look at, but.....

A Customer from Kent uk, 12th March, 2010

......the old adage less is more applies here..... so much packed in but rather linear ...this happens then that happens then that happens.. demonstration rather than exploration which gives it all a bit of a clangy obvious and unreal feel about it... Left me thinking 'so?' 'and?'. Some beautiful performances .

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Rated 4 stars
slow start, intersting history

A Customer from isle of wight, 11th March, 2010

slow start, intersting life story, i liked it but quite a girly film. good film with wine n chocs!

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