Ciné-Club de l'Alliance: Coco avant Chanel

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105 minutes | French with English subtitles | Biography, Drama

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About the Film

Director: Anne Fontaine
Actors: Audrey Tautou, Benoît Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola

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.

Praise

The film was nominated 20 times and won 5 awards, including a César for Best Costume Design.

This refreshing alternative to the usual potted biopic provides an absorbing look at a singular, steely determination as it was forged and annealed, long before it made itself known to the world.

– Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

Tautou not only resembles Chanel, she inhabits the role completely, using flashing eyes and a relentless intelligence to convey the unbending strength of a woman determined to make something of her life in a time and place when that was far from the norm.

– Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

About the Director

Anne Fontaine was born on July 15, 1959 in Luxembourg as Anne Sibertin-Blanc. She is an actress and writer, known for Adore (2013), Coco Before Chanel (2009) and Chloe (2009).

Above: ©Haut et Court

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