OVP: Coco Before Chanel (2009)

Film: Coco Before Chanel (2009)
Stars: Audrey Tautou, Benoit Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola, Marie Gillain, Emmanuelle Devos
Director: Anne Fontaine
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Costume Design)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 1/5 stars

It is a truth universally acknowledged that AMPAS loves biopics more than I.  Every year, from several slots in the Best Picture field all the way through the tech categories, Oscar will find famous people impersonating other famous people utterly charming and worthy of attention and praise.  For me, I'm more drawn to characters whose journeys aren't instantly set out for them.  I enjoy seeing the next steps in people's lives, not the ones that they've already taken and are constantly being retraced.  But this is an Oscar Viewing Project, not a John Viewing Project (which would be filled with an imbalance of depressing, unhappy ending tales, so be glad in that regard), and therefore, let's get to the 20th Century's most important designer, Coco Chanel.

(Spoilers ahead) As the title illustrates, Coco Before Chanel isn't a film about Coco (or Gabrielle, as she's known throughout the film) at the height of her fame, but instead before she became a household name.  This is, of course, a pity, because the most interesting life story about Chanel was her unsavory behavior during World War II, and that would have made for a pretty interesting biopic (I haven't seen the Shirley MacLaine TV movie that came out a few years ago on Lifetime-anyone know if this portion of her life was discussed in the film, or if that's worth seeing?).  Instead, we are given a young woman (Tautou) who wants to be a singer with her sister, but is struggling in night clubs before being discovered by a rich, horny baron (Poelvoorde).  Before you start thinking the film is a carbon copy of La Vie en Rose, though, remember that Chanel didn't succeed as a singer, so we're not going to suddenly find out that she can croon like Edith Piaf.

Instead, we're brought to a handsome country estate where Coco becomes the Baron's mistress (he prefers the term geisha, in a cringeworthy, chauvinistic scene) and slowly acclimates to high society while her sister foolishly thinks she'll marry a different baron.  Coco's emergence into the upper echelon allows her to parade her tailored suits and sharp chapeaus in front of the high society women, including an actress who takes a fancy to them (Devos) and the women begin to mimic her signature, minimalist styles.

She also finds actual love (not just an uncomfortable lust with the baron) with a man who goes by the nickname of Boy (Nivola), and though he is to be married to another woman in England, she still carries on an affair with him.  Even though we all know that Chanel would famously never wed, the film goes to painstakingly obvious lengths to show that Boy will meet a tragic end in a car crash multiple scenes before this film is through.  The final goodbye scene between Coco and Boy is ridiculously drawn-out and melodramatic, and for anyone who hadn't caught it yet, it's very clear that the director wants you to know that this is the last time these two people will ever see each other.  The film then ends with a fashion show of Chanel's most iconic looks, with Coco sporting a signature black-and-white suit.

Though I'll admit that I don't care for biopics as a whole, I can separate my personal prejudice against the genre when a film has achieved something special or unique.  Coco Before Chanel doesn't do that.  I will concede that this is my first introduction to Tautou and that I wasn't impressed.  Before you jump down my throat, Dirty Pretty Things, A Very Long Engagement, and of course Amelie are soon to come on the OVP, so I'll be able to form a better opinion of her as an actress.  In the meantime, though, I found her to be too blase about everything around her-Coco switches emotions without any sort of subtlety and she too often relies on her saucer-eyes and pixy features without inhabiting this complicated woman.

Nivola also seems to be on auto-pilot through the film.  I couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if Nivola, who is a few years older than Michael Fassbender, had been given the opportunities with his career that our Fassy has-they seem to have that same appeal (ridiculously handsome man you leave your nice husband for to have a passionate, doomed affair with), but while Fassy now enjoys worldwide fame and is set to be an Oscar nominee in a few months, Nivola has to play third billing in obscure French biopics, and he's not particularly good in them.  In fact, the only character I found really intriguing was Devos's actress, but she wasn't given enough to do through the film, even though she lit up what the writers gave to her.

The film's Oscar nomination clearly didn't come from acting, though-it came for Costume, and here I find myself in a conundrum.  The costumes are all splendid (it's Chanel, darling!), but they all borrow pretty heavily from the iconic designer herself.  Many of them appear to be her exact designs, in fact, so I'm having trouble giving Catherine Leterrier most of the credit for the designs.  It's beautiful, but there's no way that this can win the OVP for me, and I probably would have given this nomination to something more original (but we'll get there in a few weeks-just two more viewings until the 2009 OVP commences!).

We'll leave it there, then, but what were your thoughts on this film?  Am I rushing to judgment on Tautou, or do you also find her a tad overrated?  And where do you see Leterrier's designs in the grand scheme of the 2009 Oscar race?  Share in the comments!