Coco Before Chanel 2009

     This film is based on a novel written by Edmonde Charles-Roux.  Several years after Gabrielle Chanel left an orphanage because her father never returned for her, Gabrielle is working in a provincial bar.  She's both a seamstress for the performers and a singer.  She has adopted the nickname Coco given to her by her father in her early childhood.  A liaison with Baron Balsan gives her an entrée into French society.  This is a chance for her to develop her gift for designing increasingly popular hats.  When she falls in love with English businessman Arthur Capel, further opportunities open up but life becomes even more complicated. 

     The film sidesteps most of the biographical untidiness by following only Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel’s early life.  She was born in Saumur on the Loire in 1883 and not 1893 as she sometimes claimed.  This is a historical biopic depicting Coco Chanel’s life before she hit it big as a fashion designer.  It examines her somewhat scandalous love-life, she is kept by one man but is in love with another and both are aware of the other.  Her benefactor often treats her like chattel.  Though she asserts her independence, she puts up with his disrespect too.  Nevertheless, Coco come across as an incredibly strong woman and a pioneer in many ways.  There’s a good bit of drinking and smoking and some subtle love scenes.  The movie is in French with English subtitles.  3 1/2* (I liked this movie)

Note:  Imdb 6.7* out of 10 with 39K reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 64% with 136 critic reviews 57% with 25,000+ audience scores, reel views 2 1/2* out of 3* James Berardinelli, Roger Ebert 3 1/2*, Common Sense Media S. Jhoanna Robledo, 2* out of 5* age 13+, 1* positive role models and violence, 2* sex, 3* positive messages, drinking, drugs & smoking, 

 

105 min, drama directed by Anne Fontaine and written by Edmonde Charles-Roux, Anne and Camille Fontaine with Audrey Tautou Alessandro Nivola, Emmanuelle Devos, Jean-Yves Chatelais, Marie-Benedicte Roy, Bonoit Foelvoorde, Marie Gillian, Regis Royer, Yan Duffas, Pierre Diot.

Special Note:  Coco lived at the Hotel Ritz in Paris, from 1934 to 1971.  The Coco Chanel Suite was named after her in her memory.  In 1967, Katherine Hepburn was planning to make a musical of Chanel's life.  Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe would be  providing the songs.  It was canceled after a series of high-profile and big budget musical flops.

Mistakes:  When Boy allows Coco to drive the car and the car stops, she steps out wearing a white scarf that she wasn't wearing when she got into the car? Coco wears a heavy overcoat on the beach in Deauville looking out on the English Chanel.  When Boy joins her moments later, the overcoat is gone?  Etienne wields a polo mallet with his left hand.  That is forbidden under modern polo rules but was allowed at the time of this movie.