COCO BEFORE CHANEL review by Gary Dean Murray

Audrey Tautou is one of the most amazing actresses of our generation. In a world where celebrity is confused with talent, Audrey is a woman who lets the work speak for itself. Even when she's stuck in a inferior film, she still shines with a grace and passion seldom experienced in modern cinema fare... which is why Coco Before Chanel is even more of a disappointment.

The French language film is a bio-pic of Coco Chanel as a young woman, the years before she becomes the icon of fashion. The movie opens with Dad leaving Gabrielle and Adrienne at an orphanage. The young Gabrielle goes every visiting day to see if her father has come, but never does.

Then we get the flash forward and the girls are now young women working as entertainers in a brothel. They are not working girls but singers doing a song about a little dog called Coco. During the days, both work mending clothes, a skill that Gabrielle shows an intuitive knack.

Gabrielle (Tautou) catches the eye of Etienne (Benoit Poelvoorde), a rich aristocrat who fancies fast horses and loose women. He becomes smitten by Gabrielle and assigns her the nickname Coco. A man of his word, he gets her an audition to perform at a better venue, but Coco fails in the attempt to stun the booker. Adrienne had recently left their duo and Coco as a solo just does not work.

After the audition, Etienne leaves for his country home near Paris and Coco decides to follow him. Adrienne has moved near Etienne, she living with a Baron who professes love and respect for the young woman. Coco claims that she is visiting Etienne for just a few hours but both know that each has something the other wants.

A few days living the life of high class, Coco decides she isn't going to leave this world. Becoming a kept woman, she takes full advantage of both his grounds and his wardrobe. While watching the world of the debauching rich, Coco notices how badly they dress. She crafts different looks using her skills and his clothes, making a fashion statement that is as different as anything seen in Paris. Her straw hats draw the eye of an actress who was once kept under the wing of Etienne.

It is during this time Coco meets Etienne's friend Arthur (Alessandro Nivola). He's a business man concentrating in coal and horses. Soon he becomes smitten with Coco. The rest of Coco Before Chanel is the love triangle that develops between the principles as our heroine starts her ascension from talented seamstress to fashion matron.

There are some single moments that were effective in Coco Before Chanel. The biggest one being Coco and Arthur dancing. A simple scene where two are on a ballroom floor becomes a defining moment because Coco wears the black dress that would become the most important fashion item of the century. When they are twirling around the ballroom, it is as if Coco is the one person not in a period piece. The statement both on style and trend show the divide between the centuries the way few films have ever done.

Benoit Poelvoorde just commands attention with every frame in Coco Before Chanel. Though not a handsome man, he has an interesting face that just draws one in. This is a strong, solid performance full of subtle inflections. He does love Coco but it is more like she is a possession than a person. They have a relationship based more on basic need than any boiling affection.

Audrey Tautou could read the phone book and still be engrossing. She has that 'it' quality, that undefined aspect of personality that draws you in and never lets go. But we never get a sense of her as a person. Going from situation to situation, there is never a resolution of events or and explanation of meaning.

Coco Before Chanel is interesting but never moving. Where the film should have been riveting, it is merely an exercise in convention. I could see a few of the principles getting year end accolades, but this film is not going to generate the kind of critical passions come finish of 2009.

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