What can I say about this film? Well it's beautiful - I love the period and Chanel's style is par excellence so it gets loads of points for elegance.
But what of Chanel and Igor themselves and the relationship the film is set around?
Stravinsky (Mads Mikkelsen looking like a period Freddie Mercury) first meets Chanel (Anna Mouglalis) at the disastrous first performance of his The Rite of Spring in which police are brought in to calm down the disgruntled crowd.
A few years later, exiled from his native Russia and living in a cramped hotel with his wife and family, Chanel offers him her house outside Paris in order to work. And so he moves with his family and a relationship develops between him and his host.
Other than a physical attraction their motives for their liaison aren't clear. Chanel leads Stravinsky into adultery by stripping off in front of him. When confronted by his dying wife, who guesses what is going on, Chanel offers no apology or signs of remorse despite her interest in Stravinsky already appearing to be on wane. As the relationship begins to crumble he produces the rework of The Rite of Spring which was to be hailed a masterpiece and she finally chooses the signature Chanel no. 5 scent.
Chanel comes across as manipulative bitch to Stravinsky's lost devoted puppy and we are led to believe their liaison helped them create some of their best work.
It's an unsatisfying biography that reveals little about the people themselves rather concentrating on the relationship that may or may not have actually happened but if you want to watch women swanning around in beautiful clothes in elegant settings then it's definitely worth it just for that.
What the professionals said:
Steve Rose in The Guardian gave it three stars commenting "Ultimately, the affair develops into a brittle battle of artistic wills. "I'm as powerful as you," Chanel tells Stravinsky. "You're not an artist, you're a shopkeeper," he replies. It's an inviting question. How do you compare such disparate talents? How do you compare smell with sound?"
Anthony Quinn in The Independent also gave it three stars: "This Coco is more austere and ruthless than Tautou's gamine waif, and the film itself is a more considered, textured portrait. One of the best things here is a coda that finds both principals alone in old age (they died within months of one another in 1971), contemplating mementoes of their liaison – whatever it was – half a century before."
Rotten Tomatoes UK gave it an overall rating of 51%
Metacritic gave it an overall rating of 56%
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