Coco Avant Chanel (Coco Before Chanel) (2009)

My mother visited last weekend, and, citing that she hadn't seen a movie in theaters since Harry Potter, I thought a French film about fashion and romance might be a good mother-daughter outing. Coco Before Chanel traces the early life of the famous designer, played with fervor by Audrey Tatou. As children in the early 1900's, she and her sister Adrienne (Marie Gillain) were abandoned at an orphanage by their widowed father, and as adults the women had to make their own way working as seamstresses and club singers. When Adrienne is whisked away by a gentlemanly baron to be married, the determined Coco injects herself into the life and mansion of millionaire Balsan (Benoît Poelvoorde), who in his own entitled, manly way finds her unfeminine dress and independent habits unique and charming.

She doesn't like his demeaning ways or tendency to make her "perform" for his society friends, but she has no other place to stay. She develops an interest in hat-making after one of Balsan's friends, a stage actress named Emilienne (Emmanuelle Devos), requests one of her designs. She also begins tailoring men's clothes and altering women's clothes to fit her own loose, simple aesthetic and allow for free movement. She falls for Balsan's British friend "Boy" Capel (Alessandro Nivola), who encourages her to focus more on her designs, and she hopes that through them, she can gain independence.

Coco Chanel was a very interesting, controversial, and admirably self-sufficient woman, whose designs radically changed how women's fashion came to be viewed. While I knew this film would capture the years before she started her brand-name empire, I was hoping it would still have an attention on her design aesthetic and inspirations, perhaps including details about how she started her first shops and gained such an impressive clientele. Unfortunately, the script instead devotes most of the time to two dead-end, frustrating relationships. Boring. I really hated both of the male characters, and I could not understand why she would see either of them, especially Balsan, who remained condescending and disrespectful towards her throughout their relationship.

There is, of course, some focus on the fashion aspect: her unique ideas about un-binding, un-complicated clothing, which connect interestingly to her view of a freer, more open role for women in society. However, I never really felt any of her passion for it. A friend suggested she make hats, so she did, and they were popular, so she made more. There were some nods to her influences and innovations, such as the vertical stripes of sailors she passes on the beach or the use of jersey material, but most of it was done as a small detail within a scene, not the center of a conversation. The opening of her hat shop and beginning of her clothing designs are tacked on at the end, with little screen time devoted to how she lived or worked (we only know she was doing very well for herself). The passage of time was also very hard to gauge, with my mom and I trying to figure out based on the extras' fashions or if the war was mentioned. I found myself with a lot of questions about the logistics of Coco's life, but the story just kept showing me more of the relationship drama.

There are some really nice moments in Coco Before Chanel. I loved the lush cinematography of the French countryside, and Tatou's performance is strong and engaging. The conversations devoted to Coco's progressive view of gender roles and fashion are really interesting, but too often bogged down by her seemingly contradictory romances. I understand that the filmmakers were trying to create a portrait of a woman whose humble beginnings were shrouded by her illustrious later career, but I don't think they did the best job of really showing us how she got from point A to point B. There is, of course, some very pretty clothing though.

3/5