"The latest stab at showing us how genius operates is Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky, a swanky re-enactment of the supposed flaming affair between two of the major creative forces of the last century. (In real life, they did—or didn’t?— share a brief moment.) Why and for whom was this movie made? There’s no big name attached to it—it was never headed for your local Cineplex. One possible clue: Anna Mouglalis, who plays Chanel, has worked for the fashion house for eight years, and remains a “muse” for Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel products. Is this what’s meant by “synergy”?"
Mouglalis is a great beauty—the closest thing we’ve seen to Ava Gardner since Ava Gardner. And beauty is the main thing the movie offers—every approving review gloats over the opulence and glamour of the period sets and costumes; it’s Masterpiece Theatre meets The Rite of Spring. Which is indeed how the movie opens: with a meticulous and convincing re-enactment of the famous “scandal”—the boos, the catcalls—of the 1913 premiere of that Stravinsky/Nijinsky/Diaghilev cause célèbre. Coco, elegantly strapless, is on hand, coolly approving while taking note of the hunky young composer (Mads Mikkelsen). Here, to anyone who knows the Stravinsky iconography, is where a willing suspension of disbelief had better start kicking in: Stravinsky was many extraordinary things, but at 5′ 3″ and with his owl-like visage he was no hunk. In the last few years, Helen Mirren, in a burst of verisimilitude, sported Her Majesty the Queen’s signature hairdo and Nicole Kidman proudly asserted Virginia Woolf’s nose. Coco & Igor is much too busy with the verisimilitude of the furniture and the drapery to bother with what its iconic protagonists really looked like.
God: even for the NYRB, the sneer is pretty pronounced. I like a little invective, but give something it's due. Biopics aren't, in of themselves, failures. That said, I, too, was ambivalent about Coco Before Chanel, which Gottlieb dismisses at the end (even less can be said about Shirley MacLaine TV movie, I am sure) and I didn't think much to this film when I first heard of it, though I was intrigued by the fact Stravinsky and Chanel knew each other.
Also, yes: making Stravinsky a dreamboat irritates. It is too much to expect a romantic lead to be ugly, or indeed any lead, but come on. At least make him plain. The saddest part is that I'll probably still end up Netflixing this at some point, if only to see if the Ava Gardner comparison holds up. Based on the picture, I have my doubts.
No comments:
Post a Comment