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Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

You don't have to be a great lover of fashion to appreciate the rags-to-riches story of legendary designer Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel - or to appreciate the wonderful performance of French actress Audrey Tautou as the lead in Coco Before Chanel.

Coco's beginnings are humble to say the least after her widowed father deposits her and her sister, Adrienne, at a dreary Roman Catholic orphanage in Aubazine, France. Six years later, when she turns 18, Coco leaves with Adrienne, and works as a seamstress by day and a bar singer by night.

One fateful night, Coco encounters Etienne Balsan (Benoit Poelvoorde), a rich socialite whose debauchery-filled parties makes one understand why there was a French revolution decades earlier. Coco moves onto his estate where she is treated like a possession by the womanizing Balsan who realizes too late how unique she is.

Balsan's treatment of her opens the door for Coco, who despite her mistrust of men and skepticism towards love, falls for Arthur "Boy" Capel (Alessandro Nivola), an English polo player with business ties to Balsan. A playboy in his own right, the charming Chapel supports Coco's fashion pursuits, but a tragedy ensures that Coco's vow to never marry comes to fruition.

Tautou, whom mainstream American audiences perhaps best know from her role opposite Tom Hanks in The Da Vinci Code, is simply brilliant as Coco. Her performance harkens back to the day when she made her first splash on this side of the pond in Amélie. With an Audrey Hepburn quality, she effortlessly glides across the screen as she fleshes out the emotions of a woman who completely changed fashion in the early 20th century.

Besides Tautou, another brilliant aspect to Coco Before Chanel is how, unlike Amelia, it deftly balances romance while maintaining perspective on who the woman Coco was and what influenced her to become the fashion magnate the world came to know. Now, the film does not delve into Coco's post-1919 life and the questions she later faced involving her activities during World War II, but that's another film for another time.

Brimming with magnificent costumes that accurately represent the period, Coco Before Chanel is  well-sewn cinema that may see some Oscar nods.

On a letter grade scale from A being excellent to F for failing, Coco Before Chanel receives an A- .
    
Coco Before Chanel is rated PG-13 and has a running time of 105 minutes.

Now showing through December 24 @
Tivoli Cinemas
Westport Manor Square, 4050 Pennsylvania, KCMO
Visit www.tivolikc.com or call 913-383-7756 for showtimes.

By Michael D. Smith

Indie Film Editor

Michael D. Smith earned a Bachelor of Arts in history at College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri followed by a Master of Arts in history at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Inspired by such critics as Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, Michael started reviewing films in 1992 for College of the Ozarks's student-run newspaper. After returning to the Kansas City area in 1994, he continued film reviewing by writing for the Cass County Democrat Missourian in Harrisonville.

In 2000 Michael joined Sun Publications in Overland Park, Kansas where he served as its film critic and Arts and Entertainment Editor. During his tenure there, he was also the film critic for the "Fine Arts Radio Hour" and "Celebrity Scoop" radio shows on KXTR. After leaving the Sun in late 2002, he became the A&E writer for the Olathe News in Olathe, Kansas. He also worked as a freelance writer for The Squire in Leawood, Showcase Publishing in Lake Ozark, Missouri and the Kansas City Star.

Michael is currently a member of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle, a professional film critic organization established in 1966 by the late Dr. James Loutzenhiser.