Coco Avant Chanel

A Review by Roger Knowles

Audrey Tautou is brilliantly cast as ‘Coco’ Chanel. She is not a classic beauty, but she grows on you – just as the strong-willed central character in this biographically-based story grows on those she chooses to befriend. She reveals the moody, crafty determination of the young woman who was known for her readiness to lie her way (in more than one sense) to her goals.


Coco Chanel did not invent the female form, but in fashion terms she may as well have done so. She gave socially aware women comfortably simplistic yet revealing clothing – such as her signature ‘little black number’. The clean lines and lack of adornment were carried over from her early life in an orphanage, and her years in a convent, where she learned her sewing skills.

The film is beautiful, with an easy flow as it moves from the austerity of her early life to the opulence of the environment in which she chooses to create her unique life and style. The important transitions in her life are preceded by journeys in various vehicles through the magnificence of the French countryside. Observe how the opening journey moves the child Gabrielle (later gaining the nickname ‘Coco’ – the title of a song she sang) from the sunlit beauty of a leafy glade to the sunless gloom of the orphanage; crows squawking as the trip nears its end.

The musical score is wholly appropriate, matching the moods of the various scenes so well that it is hardly noticeable.

This is certainly not an ‘action’ movie, but neither is it a ‘chick flick’. It will suit those who have an interest in seeing a young woman of humble birth climb from obscurity and poverty to a self-made success with its happiness and its inevitable agonies.

Roger Knowles is a professional speaker, author and attorney.  For more information see http://www.rogerk.co.za/, http://www.referralnetworking.co.za/ or http://www.getyourmoney.co.za/