COCO CHANEL & IGOR STRAVINSKY (2010) (***)

This drama might have not been planned as a sequel to the Audrey Tautou film, COCO BEFORE CHANEL, but it works as one. The story of this film picks up pretty much where the other film left off. This film doesn't have the same ambition or storytelling sophistication, but it does tell a compelling story of a sexual affair where the woman holds all the cards.

The film begins in detail with the disastrous first performance of Igor Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring." A producer tells Stravinsky (Mads Mikkelsen, CASINO ROYALE) that the work is too modern for those use to "Swan Lake." The famed fashion designer Coco Chanel (Anna Mouglalis, THE CAPTIVE) was one of the few in the audience who saw it as a new masterpiece. The work stuck with her so strongly that years later when she meet the composer again, she offered to be his sponsor. So Stravinsky, his sick wife Katarina (Yelena Morozova) and their brood of children moved into Chanel's country estate with her. Right from the start, Mrs. Stravinsky knew that their benefactor had more than just an interest in music.

Having seen COCO BEFORE CHANEL, the experience of watching this film was changed. Here, suffering over the death of her one true love Boy Chapel (Anatole Taubman, QUANTUM OF SOLACE) and firmly established as a fashion icon, Coco's aloof attitude comes off more snobbish than defiant as it did in the Tautou film. There we watch as Chanel fought to be accepted in the wealthy class and not just the kept mistress of a rich man. In this film, ironically, the roles are reversed.

Chanel, it seems, sees a misunderstood artist in Stravinsky as she does in herself. In Chanel, Stravinsky is seduced by her confidence and cagey sexual pursuit of him. She represents passion, while his wife is the burden of responsibility. When Chanel wants something she makes it happen. She doesn't hide from Katarina, being very kind to her as if that will ease the pain of her plans to seduce her husband. This is mirrored in the precise way she approached the creation of her Chanel No. 5 perfume.

Director Jan Kounen, working with cinematographer David Ungaro, creates an elegant tableau of modern design. Chanel's signature black and white style makes for a clean background for the characters to move around in. Katarina injects color into the film from her red hair to the tapestries she hangs in their room. Subtly we see how the Stravinskys are influencing Chanel as her wardrobe begins to see some color as well. It's all done in an enticing game, leading up to the film's many full nude sex scenes.

This film doesn't delves as deeply into what makes the characters tick as COCO BEFORE CHANEL did, but it does portray an attitude on its own. In fashion and music, Chanel and Stravinsky signaled in the modern age. It almost seems like a force of fate brought them together. Chanel was tired of men of the 19th century dominating her 20th century. Stravinsky was different… somewhat. The ending is interesting. There are harsh words, a direct letter and a new musical production that close the story. How they proceed isn't as simple as it seems at first thought. Chanel had a connection with Stravinsky, but was it the music or the man?