Coco Before Chanel cannot get out from under the romantic fabrications and excesses that ostensibly annoyed its subject.
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11/19/09
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Coco Before Chanel (2009)
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Reviews Counted:112
Fresh:73
Rotten:39
Average Rating:6.1/10
Consensus: Though it doesn't quite capture the complexity of its subject's life, Coco Avant Chanel remains a fascinating, appropriately lovely tribute.
Theatrical Release:Sep 25, 2009 Limited
Box Office: $4,847,752
Synopsis: Coco Before Chanel is the story of Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, who began her life as headstrong orphan, and through an extraordinary journey became the legendary couturier who embodied the modern... [More]
Starring: Audrey Tautou, Benoit Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola, Marie Gillain
Director: Anne Fontaine
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Reviews for Coco Before Chanel
It again begs the question of why such a painstaking effort would be taken to re-create a life that could not seem less dramatic to the woman who’s living it.
11/19/09
A movie that is tres chic even if it sometimes resembles those corsets Coco banished, a little stiff and confining.
11/18/09
I don't remember ever seeing a photo of Chanel before, but when we see Tautou as the middle-aged, iconic Chanel, a cigarette dangling insouciantly from her lips, I knew it was an uncanny resemblance.
11/13/09
Ultimately, [Benoit Poelvoorde] is the one who holds this knotty yarn in place.
11/06/09
This guilty pleasure costume drama leaves you wanting to know more about this extraordinary woman considered one of the most influential in the 20th century. Let's hope that Fontaine can do a follow-up with "After" in the title.
11/06/09
The script...adheres closely to biopic conventions but is brought alive by the magnetic performance of Tautou with strong support particularly from Poelvoorde and Devos.
11/06/09
'Coco Before Chanel'? Whose bright idea was that? Isn't that like 'Amelia Before Airplanes'? Or 'Frankenstein Before Med School'?
11/06/09
A better title: "Coco Before She Was Interesting."
11/06/09
Earlier in the year we had Julia Childs, two weeks ago we has Amelia Earhart, and this week we have Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel. Who's next? Rachel Ray and her journey to invent edible crayons? Hannah Montana's battle against Dissociative Identity Disorder?
11/06/09
A familiar lemonade-from-lemons period biopic or, in the case of the fashionista, a smart-suit-from-tattered-threads tale.
11/06/09
There's a lot to like here. The film looks beautiful, and Alexandre Desplat's score is suitably moody.
11/05/09
The thread connecting the ambitious girl to the acclaimed woman is enough to make us wish for a sequel titled Chanel No. 2.
11/05/09
Fontaine manages to create a film that captures both the essence of its subject and the times and circumstances that helped to shape her.
11/04/09
[T]here's a anesthetized feel to this sedate biopic that suggests a wrongheadedness in its focus: maybe the more interesting part of her life was after she became the icon of fashion...
11/03/09
As essayed by Audrey Tautou through Anne Fontaine's lens, this Chanel is dry as toast and the antithesis of her sensual sartorial creations.
11/03/09
A bit more of Coco becoming Chanel was what I expected, and what would have elevated this film beyond the typical period-piece love story fare.
10/31/09
In Coco Before Chanel, Audrey Tautou coolly charms as the designer in her formative years. On a scale of 8, the film is a Chanel #5.
10/29/09
Like the recently opened Amelia, the story could well be an accurate depiction of Chanel's life but it, too, is not all that engaging.
10/29/09
The film is unfailingly funny.
10/23/09
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