Coco Before Chanel

Long before the trappings of success took hold, Coco Chanel was a not more than a peasant living life abandoned in an orphanage. Immediately this shocking situation for one of history’s most prolific designers sets us up for a rags-to-riches tale like no other, and it’s virtually certain that without the hard and lonely upbringing in which she was forced to more or less fend for herself, Coco would not have had the strength or grit to found one of the great fashion houses. A little girl who is sent with her sister to an orphanage in the heart of France, who waits in ... Read Full Story

Getty Images. Coco Before Chanel DIRECTOR: Anne Fontaine STARS: Audrey Tautou, Benoit Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola RATING: PG-13 RUNTIME: 105 min ZIMBIO OPINION: Of an understated elegance that would have won Coco's approval. Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel was an expert liar. She was known to have invented pasts for herself, pasts that would have more easily explained her rise to prominence as one of the 20th century's most important figures. She was born in a poorhouse, and spent much of her childhood in an orphanage, but would not allow those realities to become part of her living myth. But Ms. Chanel's reluctance to reveal makes her ... Read Full Story

Coco Before Chanel Julie Seabaugh Wed, Nov 4, 2009 (5:39 p.m.) Audrey Tatou as Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel She wanted to sing (and she did, albeit in a grim saloon). She wanted to act (and she did, albeit in a role as kept woman to wealthy, connected racehorse owner Étienne Balsan [a compelling Poelvoorde]). But it was ultimately a talent for sewing instilled by the nuns who raised Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel (Tautou) after her father’s abandonment that would inform the ascension of the French designer who spearheaded circa-1910 fashion’s transformation from excessive form to simplistic functionality. As its name suggests, subtitled biopic Coco Before Chanel ... Read Full Story

Coco Avant Chanel Starring Audrey Tautou, Alessandro Nivola, and Benoît Poelvoorde Directed by Anne Fontaine Rated PG-13 In her performance as Coco Chanel, you can see the wheels turning with Audrey Tautou , the gamine French actress who made such an indelible mark on audiences eight years ago in Amélie . That's not to say you can see her acting. For a recent example, watch Hilary Swank in another bio-pic about an important woman from the first half of the 20th century. With Tautou, as it perhaps was with Chanel, you can see her navigating the chess pieces, from the clothes to the actors. ... Read Full Story

Long before she became known as the figure with a cigarette perched between her lips as she made adjusments to the garment draped over her sewing mannequin, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel was an orphaned child with little in the way of social status. These facts are laid forth in typical French cinematic elegance in Anne Fontaine ’s Coco Before Chanel . Chanel's reincarnation As the title suggests, the latest biopic on the fashion femme fatale centers around the events leading up to the fame and fortune she achieved with the Chanel empire. With a somewhat slow-paced beginning, we learn of Chanel’s naive attachment to the ... Read Full Story