Movie Review: ‘Coco’ star a perfect fit for role

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So much of how history is perceived is tied to the way people looked at any given time, which is just one of the reasons why "Coco Before Chanel” is so compelling: Gabrielle "Coco” Chanel’s aesthetic of elegance and simplicity is quite simply the visual dividing line between the 19th and 20th centuries. In director Anne Fontaine’s depiction of Chanel’s early years, Audrey Tautou ("Amelie”) plays Chanel as fighting against a culture of corsets and slowly converting the world to her ideal of feminine beauty.

After being raised in an orphanage, Coco and her sister Adrienne (Marie Gillain) go to work in a tailor shop during the day and sing in cabarets at night. While Adrienne is all too willing to be a kept woman, Coco consistently denies the advances of foolish men. When she gains the attention of well-heeled horse breeder Etienne Balsan (Benoit Poelvoorde of "Man Bites Dog”), she becomes his lover, harnessing his influence and circle of friends to advance her career.

While living on Balsan’s estate, she is able to bring her vision of women’s attire to fruition. As Balsan’s friends, including his sometime girlfriend and actress Emilienne d’Alençon (Emmanuelle Devos), arrive for parties and horse races, Chanel begins dressing as she would like, in menswear-inspired pants and vests, simple hats and a little black dress. Her wearing of that dress at a dance turns all heads, launching what Vogue magazine would later call "Chanel’s Ford” because the design was accessible to women of all classes.