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Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (2009)

tomatometer

51

Average Rating: 5.7/10
Reviews Counted: 88
Fresh: 45 | Rotten: 43

It's well-acted and beautifully filmed, but Jan Kounen's dramatization of the affair between his famous subjects is curiously short on passion.

41

Average Rating: 5.8/10
Critic Reviews: 17
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 10

It's well-acted and beautifully filmed, but Jan Kounen's dramatization of the affair between his famous subjects is curiously short on passion.

audience

43

liked it
Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 18,902

My Rating

Movie Info

The brief love affair between two 20th century icons is dramatized in this period drama from director Jan Kounen. Igor Stravinsky (Mads Mikkelsen) was one of Europe's most promising new composers when in 1913 he premiered his ballet Le Sacre du Printemps (aka The Rite of Spring); the piece proved to be wildly controversial, and the audience at the Paris debut was vocal in their disgust, ruining Stravinsky's reputation for years. One patron who did like the performance was Coco Chanel (Anna

R, 1 hr. 58 min.

Art House & International, Drama

Chris Greenhalgh

Sep 28, 2010

$1.7M

Sony Pictures Classics

Cast

All Critics (89) | Top Critics (18) | Fresh (45) | Rotten (43) | DVD (2)

Beautiful but indulgent.

August 16, 2010 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Too much of the time, the film seems intoxicated by its own sense of importance.

July 30, 2010 Full Review Source: Detroit News | Comment
Detroit News
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Two narcissists do not a couple make, and without any actual relationship, there really isn't a movie.

July 23, 2010 Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | Comment
Arizona Republic
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Jan Kounen's film is ravishingly beautiful, but inhumanly cool. The severe black-and-white deco interiors of Chanel's estate suggest an elegant chessboard where pitiless mind games are being played.

July 8, 2010 Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | Comment
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The performances are well-modulated to project exactly what the director, Jan Kounen, wants to say about these two people.

July 1, 2010 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comment
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A sumptuous re-creation of '20s France and the mad affair between two of the century's most iconic figures.

June 25, 2010 Comment
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Stravinsky refuses to acknowledge [Chanel] as his artistic equal: 'You are not an artist, you are a shopkeeper' ... After this put-down, the couple's romance fizzles out ...

November 23, 2010 Full Review Source: Movie Talk | Comment

In the end, "Coco & Igor" doesn't really go anywhere, and it never quite equals the chaotic energy of that opening theater scene. But it's gorgeous to look at, as Kounen melds the heady visuals with Stravinsky's sweeping score.

August 26, 2010 Full Review Source: Wisconsin State Journal | Comment
Wisconsin State Journal

This thin slice of so-called history is both so narrow in focus and out of focus that even the most devoted fans are likely to be disappointed.

August 13, 2010 Full Review Source: Tulsa World | Comment
Tulsa World

...is a curious and moderately interesting film that, like many an initially torrid affair, eventually devolves into desultory ennui

August 13, 2010 Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | Comment
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

It's beautifully shot and acted, but as with Coco Before Chanel last year, the one thing audiences will most want to know goes unanswered again: What makes this remarkable woman tick?

August 13, 2010 Full Review Source: Times-Picayune | Comment
Times-Picayune

It's well-shot and stylish, but slow and rather dull, with emotionally distant characters and a weak ending.

August 12, 2010 Full Review Source: Birmingham Post | Comment
Birmingham Post

Mouglalis lacks Audrey Tautou's feisty pluck but makes up for it with Gallic froideur, while Mads Mikkelsen broods as a tortured artist.

August 12, 2010 Full Review Source: Total Film | Comment
Total Film

This French film's beginning is as brilliant as anything I've seen all year; unfortunately, most of the rest of the movie never lives up to that.

August 11, 2010 Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) | Comment
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Refuses to dumb down its subjects for the sake of easy accessibility (the actors are truthful rather than likeable).

August 9, 2010 Full Review Source: Scotsman | Comment

Stilted performances and an odd whimper of an ending are further flaws in this good-looking but turgid period piece.

August 9, 2010 Full Review Source: Daily Express | Comment
Daily Express

The whole movie has the immaculate visual gloss of a Chanel advert, which is no bad thing.

August 6, 2010 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | Comment
Guardian [UK]

While it's not a particularly imaginative movie, it's a great-looking one...

August 6, 2010 Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK] | Comment
Daily Mirror [UK]

It's a tragic and sophisticated love story.

August 6, 2010 Comment
Little White Lies

The film quickly turns into a dull slog.

August 5, 2010 Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | Comment
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

Morozova's sulky silence is a suitable counterpoint to the imperious, independent performance of Anna Mouglalis as Chanel.

August 5, 2010 Full Review Source: Radio Times | Comment
Radio Times

Anna Mouglalis makes for an icier Coco than Audrey Tautou, hardened by the death in 1919 of Boy Capel, the love of her life.

August 5, 2010 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

A beautifully designed but overly formal biopic that can't match the greatness of the artists it depicts.

August 5, 2010 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comment
Empire Magazine
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky

A beautifully shot, well-acted film, about two interesting, dynamic characters. This film was gorgeous, and passionate. Unfortunately the stately pace of the film descends at times into long, meaningful looks that are just too artsy for their own good. But it is still worth the time, because its design and performances

April 12, 2011
itsjustme2004

Super Reviewer

It takes a while for movies (especially foreign movies) to make it out here, but this one was worth waiting for. It was gorgeous! And it shed some light on a "collaboration" if that is the right word between these two creative giants. And it also made me realize just how jaded we have become: an affair used to be a

September 12, 2010
Bathsheba Monk
Bathsheba Monk

Super Reviewer

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