Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky

When I saw Coco Avant Chanel (Coco Before Chanel), the other Chanel movie starring Audrey Tautou, I wished the film hadn’t ended where it did and craved to know what happened next. Coco & Igor is Chapter 2 and I now understand why the first film stopped where it did. In theory, Chapter 2 sounds like the perfect love story/tragedy yet it fails to translate on screen. After her lover “Boy” Chapel’s death, Coco falls in love and lust with Igor Stravinksy, a Russian musical revolutionary. When his work is considered too controversial by an enraged audience, Stravinksy is forced to live in exile. Coco takes him under her wings – offering him, his wife and children her villa where he can work on new material. I can see how romanticizing an electric affair between two creative giants would be a tempting movie pitch but this lacks intensity, heat and characteristic elements that should allow audience to like its protagonists enough to be swept away in their clandestine passion. I would much rather watch a fact-filled, fashion documentary about Ms Chanel’s life à la The September Issue and Valentino: The Last Emperor. She was afterall the epitome of style and pioneer of combining comfort with fashion. Coco & Igor is proof that a love story does not always make a great film.

(KS) Release Date: 15 Apr 2010