Who's In It: Audrey Tautou, Benoit Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola, Marie Gillain, Emmanuelle Devos
The Basics: Orphan-turned-saloon-singer (No, this isn't La vie en rose) Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel has no money and no status. So she goes to get a whole bunch of that in the only place a woman in the early 20th century could--with a rich, connected guy. She boldly schemes her way into his life and into his circle of friends so she can get the money and contacts she needs to make herself the modern woman she dreams of designing clothes for. The end result? Karl Lagerfeld making $100,000 haute couture gowns for Oprah.
What's The Deal: Let's say you can't stand Audrey Tautou's cuter-than-cute Amelie-like ways. Then you're in luck because apparently she's sick of them too. Her version of the fashion icon is complicated, calculating, demanding, haughty and frownier than her sidekick role in DaVinci Code ever was, and in that one she had to battle the whole Catholic Church. Tautou's unsweetened herself with a vengeance and along with the fancy digs and glamorous costumes, that's what keeps this otherwise standard-issue origin story watchable.
Biggest Problem: Me, I think. I guess was just disappointed that this wasn't the more interesting, watch-her-go-from-triumph-to-triumph "Coco While She Was Actually Building Her Empire Called Chanel" movie I never had any right to expect in the first place. I was sort of hoping we'd get to watch her Scarface-level street smarts turned into major gold. But then it would have been an even more typical biopic that rushes through the life story, hitting the highlights from birth to grave. So, yeah, I'm asking for too much.
What's More Fun To Watch, This Movie Or The Latest Lagerfeld Runway Show On The iPhone's Chanel App? Both feature great clothes to look at, sulking skinny people wearing them and an aggressive head for numbers and money, but the iPhone app is over in five minutes. This movie lasts for two brooding slow-ish hours.