Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky

France

2009

118 Min

Color, Black and White

2.40:1

French, Russian, English

Currently 3.2/5 Stars.
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PROD Chris Bolzli, Claudie Ossard

SCR Chris Grenhalgh, Carlo De Boutiny, Jan Kounen

CAST Anna Mouglalis, Mads Mikkelsen, Anatole Taubman, Yelena Morozova, Natacha Lindinger, Grigori Manukov, Radivoje Bukvić, Nicolas Vaude, Marek Kostrzewski

MUSIC Jean-Jacques Hertz, François Roy, Gabriel Yared

SOUND Vincent Tulli

Cannes (Out of Competition), Toronto (Gala Presentation), São Paulo, San Francisco (World Cinema)

Synopsis

Paris 1913, Coco Chanel is devoted to her work and madly in love with the handsome and very wealthy Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel. At the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Igor Stravinsky premieres his Rite of Spring. Coco attends the premiere and is mesmerised. But the revolutionary work is too modern, too radical: the enraged audience boos and jeers. A near-riot ensues. Stravinsky is inconsolable. 7 years later. Now rich, respected and successful, Coco is devastated by Boy Capel’s death. She meets Stravinsky again – now a penniless refugee living in exile in Paris after the Russian Revolution, The attraction between them is immediate and electric. Coco offers Stravinsky the use of her new villa in Garches, so that he will be able to work, and he moves in straight away, with his children and consumptive wife. And so a passionate, intense love affair between two creative giants begins… —Cannes Film Festival

Director

Jan Kounen

Jan was a student at the Arts Décoratifs in Nice, France, (E.P.I.A.R.). He learned cinema, animation and pixillation and passed his diploma in 1988 (Diplôme National Supérieur d’Expression Plastique) while shooting his first super 8mm (soft) and 16mm (Yellow Death – The Broadword) short films, as well as his first animated films for Dutch TV. He became assistant operator, directed his first video clips and documentaries, started as a cameraman/reporter for an image agency.

In 1989, he directed Gisele Kerosene, “Grand Prix du Court-Métrage” award at the Avoriaz Festival.

In 1990, he directed the popular L’age de Plastic music video for Elmer Foot Beat. Busy working on several projects (a screen version of a Serge Brussolo novel, the Gisele Kerosene TV series), Jan also directed his first music videos for Pauline Ester (Le Monde est Fou_), another Elmer Foot Beat video (Daniela_), videos for Chihuahuas and Erasure (Voulez… read more

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cocoroach chanel

27Dec11

fruor

1Dec11

Cinematography and sound close to perfection, but then Mikkelsen

nefolk

4Nov11

Quite ruined by the attempt to make Mikkelsen speak Russian. The first 20 minutes with the French premiere of Stravinsky's "Firebird" are amazing though.

Daniel S.

17Apr11

***1/2. Far better than Anne Fontaine's COCO BEFORE CHANEL shot the same year. The first scene of the ballet is really excellent. Impliicit loves, griefs and feelings are well conveyed by Jan Kounen and the production design is perfect. Recommended.

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