Coco Before Chanel

Coco Before Chanel (Coco avant Chanel, 2009) is Anne Fontaine's biographical drama, and you can watch it online on iFILM. It follows Gabrielle Chanel long before her name became a label: an orphan, a seamstress and a cabaret singer in the French provinces.

Audrey Tautou plays the young Gabrielle, left at an orphanage by a father who never came back for her. By day she stitches costumes for performers; by night she sings a duet with her sister, the tune that sticks the nickname Coco to her for life. An affair with the wealthy Étienne Balsan (Benoît Poelvoorde) slips her into high society, while Englishman Boy Capel (Alessandro Nivola) brings both love and the first real belief in her sketches. The corsets, feathers and frills of the era irritate her; she reaches for clean lines and a man's tailoring instead.

Adapted from Edmonde Charles-Roux's book, the film skips the fashion house and lingers on the years that made it possible. Catherine Leterrier's costumes earned an Oscar nomination. Stream Coco Before Chanel (2009) online on iFILM.