Coco avant Chanel

Coco avant Chanel is considerably less baffling for the general viewer than, say, La vie en rose, the Edith Piaf biopic that juggled time frames and left plot threads hanging left, right and centre. You at least know what's happening in Coco, even if, frustratingly, there's no sense of how much time is passing: at one point someone mentions the possibility of war but if World War I happens, it does so offscreen and without any impact on the characters. The film tries to emphasise Coco's independence of thought and action butthis is constantly undercut by her reliance on men and their money. She installs herself in Balsan's mansion then bristles at his condescending attitude but never quite manages to leave. Even her relations with Boy Capel, while being portrayed as real love, also involve her being dependent on his money. There are some sharp points to be made here about women's economic dependence on men, but it all gets swamped beneath the melodramatic love triangle. Such a shame.