![audrey-tautou-coco-chanel[1]](http://www.fat-quarter.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/audrey-tautou-coco-chanel1-150x150.jpg "audrey-tautou-coco-chanel[1]")
”Coco Before Chanel”, the tenth film by directrice Anne Fontaine, is a swoony, langorous stroll through the early years of the eponymous designer, but don’t let that put you off. This is a film about a time, pre-war, pre-Suffrage, when, for women of a certain class, jobs were out of the question, and waiting for marriage little more than a gilded cage. Orphaned ex-showgirl Coco becomes the mistress of a rich man who treats her with affection but not with respect, and steals his clothes to make herself the masculine fashions that distinguish her, and eventually lead to her own salon and career.
Audrey Tautou’s pert, sulky Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel controls every scene with a hauteur that distances her from the flirting, chattering ladies as much as her sharp, monochome outfits pick her out among the frills and feathered hats. This film loves fashion, from the shots of Chanel’s nimble hands plying scissors and pins, to the creamy trailing skirts and layered pearls of ladies at the races. Coco rejects corsets both physical and metaphorical.
It’s refreshing to see a film where the female protagonist is not rubber-clad and weapon-wielding, or a foil to the male stars. It’s also about work and talent and making the most of what you’re good at; fashion may be frivolous, but Coco is not.
Coco Before Chanel is an elegant catwalk of a film, with a sophisticated woman’s heart beating at the centre. Spend your popcorn money on this one.