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Released 31st July 2009
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“Très charmant” is the immediate response that springs to mind, after watching any work associated with the delicate creature that is Audrey Tautou. However, gone are the wide-eyed, innocent days of Amelie, here, as Tautou grows up in a cynical man’s world at the beginning of the 20th Century. Tautou plays no-nonsense and fiercely independent Chanel - before rising to fashion prominence - exuding an intoxicating presence of fragile femininity, sardonic wit, and ferocious stubbornness and fervour that always makes this French star a great joy to watch in both the good times and the bad.
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The formative film is far removed from a tribute to the fashion world with its gaiety, frocks and pizzazz, and more a tragic fairytale of an ordinary woman with an eye for fashion who becomes a renowned success through sheer guts and determination, but suffers a broken heart along the way. It is only at the very end that we see Chanel and her haute couture in all its glory, so those hoping for an historic version of ‘Sex and the City en France’ will be sorely disappointed. In fact, this film is much less about the fashion, and more about the journey one independent woman takes in a tough time for the single working female, including the sacrifices made to stamp her mark in the working-class environment. Tautou is a perfect choice for such a role, easily and effortlessly blending competitive spirit, sophistication, business savvy and humour into portraying the different facets of Chanel’s personality.
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Like the simplicity of the menswear-influenced and elegant Chanel designs, the story is a rich collection of important key moments that made the icon, rather than a true and complex biographical account. It starts with the sympathy-winning beginnings of her days as a seamstress at a local tailor, allowing an important insight into her relationship with her sister, Antoinette, then concentrates on her affair with French playboy and millionaire Étienne Balsan that triggers her hat-designing hobby. Subsequently, the film follows Chanel’s tragic love affair with Balsan’s friend, Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel. With tragedy comes great strength, as her coping mechanism propels her to international notoriety.
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Director Anne Fontaine’s film is compelling because Tautou is compelling in a performance that could be one of her finest to date, through her foolhardy French attitude, coupled with an ever alluring aura of dainty mannerisms and porcelain-doll beauty.
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By Lisa Keddie
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Synopsis
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A little girl who is sent with her sister to an orphanage in the heart of France, who waits in vain every Sunday for her father to come for her…
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A cabaret performer with a weak voice who sings to an audience of drunken soldiers…
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A humble seamstress, who stitches hems at the back of a provincial tailor’s shop…
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A young, skinny courtesan, to whom protector Etienne Balsan offers a safe haven, amongst the idle and decadent…
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A woman in love who knows she will never be anyone’s wife, refusing marriage even to Boy Capel, the man who returned her love…
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A rebel who finds the conventions of her time oppressive, and instead dresses in her lovers’ clothes…
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This is the story of Gabrielle Chanel, who begins her life as a headstrong orphan, and through an extraordinary journey becomes the legendary couturier who embodied the modern woman and became a timeless symbol of success, freedom and style.
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Film Facts
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Official site: http://www.optimumreleasing.com/theatrical.php?id=1028
UK Release Date: 31st July 2009
Director: Anne Fontaine
Writers: Christopher Hampton, Anne Fontaine, Camille Fontaine, Jacques Fieschi, Edmonde Charles-Roux (source material)
Cast: Audrey Tautou (’Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’), Alessandro Nivola (’Boy Capel’), Benoit Poelvoorde (’Etienne Balsan’), Marie Gillain (’Adrienne Chanel’), Emmanuelle Devos (’Emilienne’)
Distributor: Optimum Releasing
Certificate: 12A
Run-time: 110 mins
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Video on Real.com
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Trailer:
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CLIP:
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CLIP:
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Audrey Tautou Interview:
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