You want a ribbon rather than a cloud around you.

Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky
Jan Kounen 2009 France
Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Anna Mouglalis, Elena Morozova, Nicolas Vaude, Nikita Ponomarenko

Released around the same time as Anne Fontaine's reserved biopic Coco avant Chanel but taking a drastically different approach Jan Kounen's Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky holds at its core a fascinating conceit, namely that its eventful narrative is woven around the lives of real people but is actually largely fictional, or at least imagined (Chanel & Stravinsky were rumoured to have had an affair). Clearly there are many problems with such a concept, not least that the created plot hardly flatters either of its chief subjects, but almost in spite of itself the resultant film is not only brilliantly stylish but also far more interesting than Fontaine's work. In a way you have to admire Kounen's moxy as almost immediately he has one of his minor characters say of Stravinsky's innovative The Rite of Spring, "Forget everything you've heard before", a phrase that also reads as a cheeky recommendation to his audience. He takes similar risks throughout, putting Chanel in white rather than her trademark black the first time we see her, gliding from black and white newsreels of the time to a checkerboard floor that effortlessly becomes coloured in one scene while shooting others in shadows and near darkness, and that's not to mention the staggering opening scenes with their expansive and stunning re-enactment of the disastrous premiere of Rites. Still, more credit has to go to Mads Mikkelsen whose full-on performance carries the film dramatically. As Igor, he has this strange way of walking, like he's being forced to do it as a classroom punishment, and when he's shown (ironically) in multiple mirrors early on the self-loathing on his face is palpable. As Chanel however, Anna Mouglalis is less successful, never really getting past arrogance and constantly so cold that she's neither relatable or even that realistic, overall lacking the full dimensions that make up a personality. A scene where her employees line up to be inspected as she arrives shows her unwavering need for complete control, something that features in the relationship between her and Stravinsky, but we're provided with little more information. It's obviously not entirely Mouglalis' fault - she can only work with what she's given - but she doesn't exactly overexert herself to make the best of it. Unfortunately there are other issues too as despite the evident style and the intensity of several moments others, such as the clichéd 'hands meeting while playing the piano' scene and Coco and Igor's oddly silent fuck astride the instrument's stool, are lazily written and some are frankly dull. The coda featuring the pair in their dotage still thinking of one another even as they're with new partners meanwhile is an outrageously audacious move and ends proceedings on a wholly banal note. As a whole the film is an interesting, even admirable attempt at something different and Kounen's talent is undeniable but in the end it's so over-enamoured with its own creativity that most of its charm is simply lost in the rush.