Fridae fashionistas who hope that this movie would be a stylish celebration of Chanel tweed jackets and the 2.55 bag would be somewhat disappointed. There aren’t a lot of Chanel clothes here because the movie, as its title makes clear, is about Coco Before Chanel. 

Well, Coco Before Chanel was a sullen young woman (played by Audrey Tautou) with raccoon eyes that looked at the other people with disdain and suspicion. Then again, who could blame her? She was born into poverty and abandoned by her father when she was 12. She spent her teenage years in an orphanage where the nun’s unfussy black-and-white habits would one day inspire her to create the chic, understated French look.

When she was 19, she worked as a seamstress by day and a nightclub singer by night, making barely enough to sustain herself. She was hungry for money and success, so she began flirting with the playboys who frequent the nightclub. She first gets hooked to a rich womaniser (Benoit Poelvoorde) before meeting an English businessman named “Boy” (Alessandro Nivola), who would become the love of her life.

Because of her humble beginnings as well as her partial resentment towards the wealthy, she chose to wear simple unfussy clothes – a far cry from the loud hats and frilly dresses that were the rage then. Her austere look would eventually define the Chanel style, and create an empire.

Directed by Anne Fontaine, Coco Before Chanel is a watchable biography. Anne does drill deep into her subject, but there is a straightforward workman-like quality to the film that isn’t very exciting. Thankfully, actress Audrey Tautou is a mightily gifted one who expresses many shades of Coco’s bitterness and ambition, and remains an entrancing presence throughout.

Audrey makes us understand Coco and clothes.