MitrevMovies

Coco Before Chanel

2009 110 min ★ 6.9 Drama, History

Several years after leaving the orphanage, to which her father never returned for her, Gabrielle Chanel finds herself working in a provincial bar. She's both a seamstress for the performers and a singer, earning the nickname Coco from the song she sings nightly with her sister. A liaison with Baron Balsan gives her an entree into French society and a chance to develop her gift for designing.

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Cast

Audrey Tautou

Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel

Benoît Poelvoorde

Étienne Balsan

Alessandro Nivola

Arthur 'Boy' Capel

Marie Gillain

Adrienne Chanel

Emmanuelle Devos

Émilienne d'Alençon

Régis Royer

Alec, Jockey

Étienne Bartholomeus

Balsan Butler

Yan Duffas

Maurice de Nexon

Fabien Béhar

Shop Boss

Roch Leibovici

Jean, Groom

Details

Director

Anne Fontaine

Screenplay

Anne Fontaine

Tagline

"Before she was France's famous mademoiselle…"

Status

Released

Original Language

Production

Haut et Court, Ciné-@, France 2 Cinéma, SCOPE Pictures, Warner Bros. Entertainment France

Reviews

CinemaSerf

April 10, 2024

★ 6/10

Audrey Tautou is actually quite impressive here as the legendary French designer, but the rest of this rather blandly photographed melodrama is really more about her love life than her career. She's born Gabrielle and having left the orphanage in which she was abandoned with sister Adrienne (Marie Gillain), takes a job as a seamstress and supplements that with some cabaret work. Clearly she has sk...