Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (2009)

Paris 1913. Coco Chanel is infatuated with the rich and handsome Boy Capel, but she is also compelled by her work. Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring is about to be performed. The ... See full summary »

Director:

Jan Kounen

Writers:

Chris Greenhalgh (screenplay), Chris Greenhalgh (novel),

Stars:

Anna Mouglalis, Mads Mikkelsen, Elena Morozova

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Anna Mouglalis	...	Coco Chanel
Mads Mikkelsen	...	Igor Stravinsky
Elena Morozova	...	Katarina Stravinskaya
Natacha Lindinger	...	Misia Sert
Grigori Manoukov	...	Sergey Diagilev
Rasha Bukvic	...	Grand Duke Dimitri
Nicolas Vaude	...	Ernest Beaux
Anatole Taubman	...	Arthur 'Boy' Capel
Erick Desmarestz	...	Le médecin (as Eric Desmarestz)
Clara Guelblum	...	Milena Stravinskaya
Maxime Daniélou	...	Teodor Stravinsky
Sophie Hasson	...	Ludmila Stravinskaya
Nikita Ponomarenko	...	Sulima Stravinskaya
Catherine Davenier	...	Marie
Olivier Claverie	...	Joseph

Storyline

Paris 1913. Coco Chanel is infatuated with the rich and handsome Boy Capel, but she is also compelled by her work. Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring is about to be performed. The revolutionary dissonances of Igor's work parallel Coco's radical ideas. She wants to democratize women's fashion; he wants to redefine musical taste. Coco attends the scandalous first performance of The Rite in a chic white dress. The music and ballet are criticized as too modern, too foreign. Coco is moved but Igor is inconsolable. Paris 1920, Coco is newly wealthy and successful but grief-stricken after Boy's death in a car crash. Igor, following the Russian Revolution is now a penniless refugee living in exile in Paris. Coco is introduced to Igor by Diaghilev, impresario of the Ballets Russes. The attraction between them is instant and electric. Coco invites Igor along with his wife - now sick with consumption - together with his four children and a menagerie of birds to stay at her new villa, Bel ...

---

Plot Keywords:

ballet | russian | 1920s | fashion | lust | 

---

Genres:

Drama | Music

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some strong sexuality and nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Sony Classics [us]

Country:

France Japan Switzerland

Language:

French Russian English

Release Date:

30 December 2009 (France)

Also Known As:

Coco & Igor

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£52,874 (UK) (6 August 2010)

Gross:

$1,724,882 (USA) (15 October 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Eurowide Film Production, Hexagon Pictures, Filmazure

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Released virtually concurrently with Anne Fontaine's Coco Before Chanel with Audrey Tautou. Both films were released in the US by Sony Classics.

---

Goofs

The chess board on which Stravinsky and his son are playing is set up incorrectly. Any chess playing Russian would know that the light colored chessboard square should be on the lower right.

---

Soundtracks

"The Rite of Spring (rev 1947)"
Music by Igor Stravinsky
Courtesy of Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd, an Imagem Company
Performed by Berliner Philharmoniker
Conducted by Simon Rattle (as Sir Simon Rattle)
Sir Simon Rattle appears by courtesy of EMI Classics
Music Supervision: Jen Moss for Boosey & Hawkes

User Reviews

Beautiful Images, Limp Storytelling

The riot at the premiere of "The Rite of Spring" was much more raucous than this film depicts. The accompanying "Making of" featurette on the DVD shows much more violent action than made it into the final film.

All of Stravinsky's music throughout the movie is played slowly and sentimentally, which is not what this composer was all about.

We can only conclude that the director is more interested in baroque visuals than telling his story. In fact, it's impossible to believe that a blank stick like Mads Mikkelsen wrote such violent music. The lens is much kinder to Anna Mouglalis, who effortlessly steals all their scenes together, except for the bloodless sex scenes, in which neither are interesting.

But I can't believe we'd be talking about either of these personalities today if they'd been as boring and cataleptic in real life as they are in this film. If you want to see character in action, watch Alain Resnais's "Last Year at Marienbad" which compared to this is one long firecracker display.