Word: cocos
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...Coco Chanel in an actual classroom in Coco Before Chanel, the meticulous, somber new biopic of the fashion designer before she became an icon. But throughout writer-director Anne Fontaine's film, the young Coco (Audrey Tatou) is a student, quietly gathering the elements of what will be her style...
...Etienne introduces her to a gang of party boys, their mistresses and some artistic types, and while Coco holds herself at a distance from most of them, she does make a few contacts that matter. The most important of these is an actress named Emilienne, a composite Fontaine created from two historical figures, played to the mischievous hilt by actress Emmanuelle Devos (Sur mes levres). It's Emilienne who encourages Coco to start making and selling her simple little hats, putting her on the road to her real career...
...relative scale of courtesan keepers, Etienne is a kindly boss, although he never lets Coco forget her place. When he attempts to send her away, she refuses. She's tenacious but never tender. Early in the movie, she makes the pronouncement that a "woman in love is like a begging dog" and she sticks to it, until Boy Capel (Alessandro Nivola, giving off the vibe of a young Daniel Day-Lewis) comes along. He introduces her to great books and the notion that she is exceptional. "You're elegant," he says, and with him, for what seems like the first...
...phrasing is interesting in that it makes Chanel the woman sound like a good suit. Later, when Boy asks Etienne if he can "borrow" Coco for a few days, the way you'd ask for the loan of a sweater, our hearts sink for her. Any happiness she has seems likely to be fleeting, but he, like so much else in the film, is a provider of inspiration. His shirts, his pajamas, his own elegance will eventually be reflected in her clothing. They are emblems of him, but also hold pieces of her past; her simple life of poverty...
...Those who love fashion will be intrigued by this, at least to a point, after which Coco Before Chanel starts to feel like witnessing a sponge at work in the act of absorption. That's not generally the stuff of compelling cinema. We prefer the end results of a personal education rather than the acquisition of it. If Project Runway were about the formation of the designers' sensibilities rather than the creative execution of that sensibility, would anyone watch? This automatically puts Fontaine's film at a disadvantage, and the truly enigmatic nature of her subject only compounds...