Audrey Tautou (The Da Vinci Code, Amélie) shines in this intriguing portrait of the early life of Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, the orphan who would build a fashion empire and be known universally by her nickname, Coco. She journeys from a mundane seamstress job to boisterous cabarets to the opulent French countryside, possessing little more than her unwavering determination, unique style and visionary talent. Also starring Benoît Poelvoorde (In His Hands) and Alessandro Nivola (Junebug). Featuring lush settings and stunning costume design, Coco Before Chanel is the gripping and dramatic story of an icon who defied convention and defined the modern woman.
Set in the late [Victorian era](http://www.willowandthatch.com/period-films-to-watch/period-dramas-victorian-era/), [the Edwardian era](http://www.willowandthatch.com/period-films-to-watch/best-period-dramas-edwardian-era/), and during the First World War.
Starring Audrey Tautou, Benoît Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola.
In French with English subtitles.
Note: This “handsomely dressed and tastefully furnished drama” (The Guardian) seeks only to tell the story of Coco’s life until around the end of the First World War, showing her in her mid-20s. But by Willow and Thatch’s calculations, by the end of 1918 Chanel was actually about 35 years old. (Chanel claimed that her real date of birth was 1893, making her ten years younger, so perhaps for this reason the film portrayed her this way.) Coco Chanel was born Gabrielle Chanel in 1883 in a charity poorhouse, and when, her mother died, Chanel was soon was placed in the orphanage, where she spent six years. This is where the film opens, in a Catholic orphanage in the late 1800s in the Victorian era, where she learned the trade of a seamstress — and then the film jumps ahead to the Edwardian era to find Chanel working as a seamstress by day and a cabaret singer by night.