Coco before Chanel (2009)

Directed by: Anne Fontaine | 110 minutes | drama, biography | Actors: Audrey Tautou, Alessandro Nivola, Marie Gillain, Benoît Poelvoorde, Emmanuelle Devos, Roch Leibovici

‘Coco avant Chanel’ is a biopic about the renowned French fashion queen Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel. As the title implies, the film is about the period before Chanel becomes famous, the time when she sings songs in a dingy cabaret, hangs out with the aristocracy and takes her first steps on the fashion path.

The result is a refreshing biographical drama. Most biopics focus on the dramatic highlights and pivots in a celebrity’s life. Those events must then explain the later career. In ‘Coco avant Chanel’, the makers focus as much on Gabrielle Chanel’s character (stubborn, ambitious, determined, opportunistic) as on her life story.

The number of really violent events in this film can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Moreover, the more drastic dramas are depicted in a modest and discreet manner. What counts most in ‘Coco avant Chanel’ is the encounter of a simple girl with the decadent and bored French elite of the early twentieth century. It’s that girl’s keen eye that makes her become that elite’s favorite designer. We find that sharp look in the sophisticated visual language of the film.

In the elaboration of the story, the screenwriters avoid (almost) every cliché and every moral judgment. The characters, all played wonderfully, all know the uniqueness and originality of people of flesh and blood. But the relationships that Gabrielle establishes also each have their own character, which can hardly be captured in the usual models. Her relationship with the wealthy Balsam, in particular, is as fickle as it is lifelike. And moving.

It is a pity that the film collapses a bit at the end, with Chanel’s love affairs going along less original paths. Nevertheless, ‘Coco avant Chanel’ is a high-quality biographical drama. Intelligent, captivating, with the occasional humor or an unexpected twist. And with the putative message that the applause of an army of drunkards sounds the same as the applause of a group of rich people. Or that of a satisfied movie buff.