Coco Before Chanel

The heart is a cold dark place where the light of love never seeps. Or so Coco Before Chanel would have one believe. This Audrey Tatoo starring biopic of famed clothes designer Gabrielle Coco Chanel never takes flight but rather taxis on the runway of dullness. Tatou scours and frowns throughout the entire film; for Coco a mood swing is from a scowl to a sneer. You see her smile once, and come to think of it you see the sunlight once. The rest of the film is bathed in overcast skies with harsh interior light.
Coco starts with our heroine in an orphanage with her sister. We quickly move to young adult Coco (Tatou) and her loveless affair with aristocratic horse owner Étienne Balsan (Benoît Poelvoorde). As director Anne Fontaine tells the story the taciturn Coco is so sultry that when Balsan has had his way with her and bids her adieu from his country manse Coco simply refuses to leave, or smile. It helps matters that she has no place else to go. The main problem I had warming up to Coco Before Chanel was due to the dour attitude expressed by the actors and the film's stark composition. The only other thing we see Coco doing besides frowning consists of her sewing embellishments onto hats. Supporting turns by Alessandro Nivola as one of Coco's doomed lovers and Emmanuelle Devos as a theatrical performer of renown place likeable characters in an unfriendly environment.
Since this is Coco before the Chanel empire we only observe a brief glimpse of her days as a fashion maven near the end. Despite her success Coco's unreadable face betrays her unfulfilled romances and friendships.