Inside Look at “Coco Before Chanel”

by Barb on September 1, 2009

September is bound to make me broke: moving to New York City, buying books for classes, watching movies (think September Issue), and probably some other expenses that I much rather forget about. A date to note is the 25th, which is when you can expect the much anticipated “Coco Before Chanel,” which stars Audrey Tautou as the designer.

Even though I’ve already seen the movie, I’ve had my interest in it rekindled lately. Someone at the lovely Mammoth Advertising office sent me the assets to the movie (stills, press kit, and trailer downloads) and I can tell you, I’ve forgotten so many of the wonderful qualities of the film. One of which being that you can see many of today’s fashion trends (this is how I recycle) just in some of the stills alone with boyfriend coat, plaid, and sequins.

In addition to the stills, the press kit was a delight to read. Although we all know that my attention span seldom passes page ten, I found myself reading the whole kit; it gave a lot of information and insight into the movie and left me with a new found respect for the making of the film in creating the character. One of the excerpts shows the slight nuances that I’m going to try to notice when I watch the film the second time around:

QUESTION:
We see Coco Chanel change as the formative years go by. How did you wish to mark this evolution of her character?

AUDREY TAUTOU:
Watching the photographs, I noticed how Chanel held her head haughtily, standing very straight, as if a string pulled her head up. It was impossible to detect her provincial origins in the elegance of her gait, or in her graceful gestures, the way she held her cigarette, for example. Her purely physical transformation is not so obvious during those years, but she acquires deportment and authority the more she grows confident in herself. It also had to show when she was seated, but it did not mean that I had to play her as authoritarian; it was more as if doubts start to disappear little by little. I also wanted to convey the sharp gaze she had from the start. Chanel was very attentive and extremely lucid. That is also the reason why she had this destiny and this creativity.

Enjoy the stills below; click to enlarge!