Coco Before Chanel (2008) DVD

Like La Vie En Rose before it, Coco Before Chanel is a glossy, well-acted biopic about a French female icon. Differences occur due to the disparate nature of the two women – while Coco Chanel led an undeniably interesting and influential life, aside from her orphanage upbringing her story is markedly less gritty than Edith Piaf’s chaotic rise and fall, and as the title suggests the film stops short of showing Coco’s life post-fame.

Instead it focuses on her rise from abandoned child to high society darling with the help of two men, beginning with her begrudging, almost Geisha-like existence with the rich yet oafish jockey Etienne Balsan (Benoit Poelvoorde). His bourgeois friends introduce her to the dashing Englishman Arthur Capel (Alessandro Nivola), who encourages her free spirited ways. During this genteel tug of war between two suitors, Coco creates outfits for her new found rich friends that go against the grain of lavish popular female fashion – her signature style of minimal elegance influenced by her peasant days is evident from the start. Brilliantly playing the title role is Audrey Tautou who visibly matures onscreen in a portrayal that isn’t always completely sympathetic.

Despite her refusal to marry (“better to be a mistress than a wife”) and her insistence that women should dress for themselves and not for men, the film shows Coco as having to heavily rely on men for social acceptance and financial comfort, a disappointing reflection of the pre-feminist era the film is set in rather than any fault with the script.

Ian Viggars