Coco Before Chanel: Audrey Tautou is Chanel (Review)
Anne Fontaine’s film returns at 9 p.m. on Arte, followed by a documentary on the seamstress with the controversial career.
Fifteen years ago, Audrey Tautou played the role of couturier Coco Chanel for Anne Fontaine. When it came out, First had really appreciated Coco before Chanel, atypical film. Coco before Chanel which is not exactly a biopic, but rather a work about her initiation and her decisive loves: in short, about a Coco under construction. As Véronique Le Bris Audrey Tautou explains well East Chanel: she has her penetrating gaze, her size, her determination and her roughness. And opposite her, Poelvoorde embodies a detached and joyful Balsan. Not to be missed if you like these actors.
Note that after the film, the channel is reprogramming a documentary entitled Coco Chanel, a legendary life, which retraces her career without hiding her excesses.
“From her poor origins to her strokes of genius, including her collaborationist past, this documentary tells the story of the life between shadow and light of the empress of fashion, Coco Chanel (1883-1971), who skillfully built her own myth,” promises the channel. It can also be viewed for free in replay.
Here is our review of Coco before Chanel : “The success of such a filmed portrait is largely due to the actor’s embodiment of the character. There is no doubt here: Audrey Tautou is Chanel. Same penetrating dark gaze, same build and, no doubt, same determination. Once this obvious fact is passed, Anne Fontaine’s second excellent idea is to have sought out Benoît Poelvoorde to play Balsan. The actor is perfect as a joyful and detached troublemaker and then as a jilted and desperate lover. These two are largely responsible for the interest we have in the little-known beginnings – and often reinvented by herself – of Coco Chanel. So much so that, as soon as we leave them, we feel the frustration of not continuing the adventure further.”
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