Coco Before Chanel (2009)
"Coco avant Chanel" (original title)

The story of Coco Chanel's rise from obscure beginnings to the heights of the fashion world.

Director:

Anne Fontaine

Writers:

Edmonde Charles-Roux (book), Anne Fontaine,

Stars:

Audrey Tautou, Benoît Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Audrey Tautou	...	Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel
Benoît Poelvoorde	...	Étienne Balsan
Alessandro Nivola	...	Arthur 'Boy' Capel
Marie Gillain	...	Adrienne Chanel
Emmanuelle Devos	...	Emilienne d'Alençon
Régis Royer	...	Alec, le jockey
Etienne Bartholomeus	...	Maître d'hôtel Balsan
Yan Duffas	...	Maurice de Nexon
Fabien Béhar	...	Patron boutique
Roch Leibovici	...	Jean, le palefrenier
Jean-Yves Chatelais	...	Directeur beuglant
Pierre Diot	...	Acteur théâtre
Vincent Nemeth	...	Gros homme théâtre
Bruno Abraham-Kremer	...	Tailleur Deauville
Lisa Cohen	...	Gabrielle Chanel, 10 ans

Storyline

Several years after leaving the orphanage to which her father never returned for her, Gabrielle Chanel finds herself working in a provincial bar. She's both a seamstress for the performers and a singer, earning the nickname Coco from the song she sings nightly with her sister. A liaison with Baron Balsan gives her an entrée into French society and a chance to develop her gift for designing increasingly popular hats. When she falls in love with English businessman Arthur Capel further opportunities open up, though life becomes ever more complicated.

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Plot Keywords:

baron | nickname | orphanage | fashion | performer | 

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Taglines:

Before she was France's famous mademoiselle...

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sexual content and smoking

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [us] Warner Bros. [de]

Country:

France Belgium

Language:

French English

Release Date:

22 April 2009 (France)

Also Known As:

Coco Before Chanel

Filming Locations:

Cabourg, Calvados, France

Box Office

Budget:

€19,430,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$177,399 (USA) (25 September 2009)

Gross:

$6,109,075 (USA) (5 February 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Haut et Court, Ciné@, Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min 111 min (cable)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

From 1934 to 1971 Coco Chanel made the Hotel Ritz, Paris, France her home. A suite, in honor of her memory, has been named after her: the Coco Chanel Suite.

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Goofs

When playing polo, Etienne wields the mallet with his left hand, which is currently forbidden by the rules but was not at the time the scene occurs.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[subtitled version of French dialog]
Nun: Girls who have visitors, follow me.
Gabrielle Chanel, 10 ans: Come on. Come on, let's go.
Adrienne Chanel, 10 ans: I don't want to.

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Connections

Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Episode dated 26 September 2009 (2009)

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Soundtracks

"Little Black Baby"
By Scott Joplin

User Reviews

Luke Warm Coco

What do you want in a foreign period film? Beautiful locations? Check. Class struggle? Check. Subtitles? Check. All that's missing is urgency.

Coco Chanel is a French legend. The designer of the ground-breaking haute couture style, creator of the huge fashion brand Chanel, and a forward-thinker in terms of women's independence. Chanel is a complex and dynamic personality. Makes me want to see a movie called "Coco During Chanel". But "Coco Before Chanel"? Not so much.

Audrey Tautou does a commendable job of playing Chanel in her early years (and looks a lot like Chanel in the movie's later scenes). Adding complications to the idea is the fact that there is little known about Chanel's youth, and what is known often has conflicting stories. But be prepared, what does happen in "Coco Before Chanel", happens slowly. This, in a movie that portrays the French elite as people with crazy money, outlandish parties and a constant desire to quench their boredom. I desired the same.

Although she often denied it, Chanel was brought to an orphanage early in life (this was denied mainly to prevent preconceptions of her as an undesirable). The film sharply cuts to late teens/early twenties Coco (real name, Gabrielle), singing with her sister in clubs to make a buck. It was the plight of women in the 1890s to find a man or fear being lost in society. Coco's sister was beholden to a man for thirty years, and he FINALLY married her after his parents died so he wouldn't have to explain to them that he married an orphan (for shame!). This assnine mentality is certainly worth rebelling against, but Coco remains passive for too much of the movie. She is taken in by a wild playboy named Balsan (expertly played by Benoit Poelvoorde) and is mistreated by him for years. Chanel wants to answer to no man and wants to design clothes that avoid the feathers and corset that alter a woman's natural body. But again, this is done with little dramatic flair and many, many pages of slow-moving script. Coco came off as a little too inert for a little too long.

This movie is the first of the late-year potential Oscar nominees. Tautou's performance is a maybe, but the costume design is a sure thing, and rightfully so. The Chanel style is famous, they have to nail it, and they did, while also building gorgeous period outfits for the rich, end-of-century French culture and a few military outfits as well.

The score by Alexandre Desplat does a lot to enhance a few of the scenes, and the cinematography is lush. I want to give a special nod to Alessandro Nivola, who's very good here and very good in everything, but the guy doesn't appear in enough high-profile stuff. He sits very comfortably in the French language here and smolders in some of his more romantic moments like a poor man's Ralph Fiennes.

A traumatic event late in the film propels Coco to launch into her designing full speed. That moment felt a little rushed and the whole ending follows suit. What I wanted at the end was the "Coco During Chanel" movie to start, so, then, that could be kind of a success for the film? But remember, I wanted "Coco During Chanel" going in, so really, the whole 'before' story just felt like slow filler. Frills, perhaps? Padding?