Coco Before Chanel
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: September 25, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
8
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The naturalism of Anne Fontaine's film would be at home in a novel by Dreiser. Her star Audrey Tautou, who could make lovability into a career, avoids any effort to make Coco Chanel nice, or soft, or particularly sympathetic. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
I wish Fontaine would follow up with a sequel: "Coco After Chanel." Tautou's performance cries out for a second act. Read full review
80
Time OutKarina Longworth
Anne Fontaine’s biopic transforms the designer’s early life into highbrow guilty-pleasure gold. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Coco is played by Audrey Tautou, and she's phenomenal--self-contained, tightly focused, sparing with her smiles, miserly with her joy, often guarded to the point of severity, yet giving off a grave radiance at every moment she's in front of the camera. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
A superior filmed biography that brings intelligence, restraint and style to what could have been a more standard treatment. Read full review
80
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
This refreshing alternative to the usual potted biopic provides an absorbing look at a singular, steely determination as it was forged and annealed, long before it made itself known to the world. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Tautou is a fascinating, unsmiling, petite presence with a severe brow and an androgynous appeal, so much so that I wish Alessandro Nivola (Junebug) were a more robust beau as Arthur ''Boy'' Capel, the love of Chanel's life. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Not an expansive biopic but a fascinating snapshot of a pivotal chapter for Chanel, her formative fashionista years. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
This is the story of the diminutive Coco before she became the fashionable Chanel – in other words, the whole movie is one long first act. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Coco Chanel is not the most lovable of heroines, but it's a strength of the film that director Anne Fontaine allows Tautou to make Coco as cold and ungiving as she does. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Maybe it's just the subtitles, but it would seem that Fontaine has a keener eye for the elements that made Chanel's style than she has an ear for dialogue. But she gets a splendid performance from Tautou. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Through Tautou's performance, Coco Before Chanel reveals the formation of an artist. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Surprisingly intimate and nuanced. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterBernard Besserglik
Spectacle, a love triangle, heritage settings, bravura acting, witty dialogue, a bittersweet finale: There's something for everyone in Anne Fontaine's Coco Before Chanel. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
The blossoming of her ambition, as much as her love life, drives the story forward, and turns Coco Before Chanel into a costume drama worthy of the name. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The movie is most fascinating when it shows how Chanel communicated her enlightened sense of womanhood through her innovative designs, which in turn helped women feel differently about themselves. Read full review
70
Film ThreatElias Savada
A hard luck, true life fairy tale story told with poignant humility, embellished with solid acting and determined direction. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Tautou is, as ever, radiant and deep and affecting, but a film about such an extraordinary personage as Chanel shouldn’t feel so ordinary and wan. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
I could have watched this woman rip a piece fabric and turn it into a dress all day. I haven’t seen a lot of that. I have seen movies about a woman caught between two men, as Chanel is here. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Technically, it's superbly made; dramatically, it fails to achieve escape velocity. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
The thread connecting the ambitious girl to the acclaimed woman is enough to make us wish for a sequel titled "Chanel No. 2." Read full review
60
EmpireLiz Beardsworth
More a snapshot of a moment than conventional biography, and while less complex than it might want to be, still a quietly thoughtful look at one of the 20th century’s most influential characters. Read full review
60
VarietyJordan Mintzer
More sentimental than chic, Gallic biopic Coco Before Chanel nonetheless knits a convincing portrait of the designer's journey from her humble beginnings as a provincial seamstress to the halls of Parisian haute couture. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
There are a select few artists who can take the same materials used by everyone else and create a masterpiece. Coco Chanel was one of them. Director Anne Fontaine is not. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
Too much of the film feels like one of Balsan’s house parties: undriven, indulgent, quite at ease. Read full review
50
Village VoiceMelissa Anderson
The Coco of Fontaine's project--which she co-wrote with her sister, Camille, freely adapting Edmonde Charles-Roux's book L'Irrégulière: ou, Mon itinéraire Chanel--can be described as courtesan before couturiere. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
There are indications scattered throughout Coco Before Chanel of a major designer quietly and persistently honing her craft, but most of the film could exist without the Chanel name and still smell like the same perfume. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
It’s a perfectly nice period piece and biographical backgrounder, but the film feels as though it’s a meal of tasty side dishes that lacks a main course. Read full review
50
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
A better title: "Coco Before She Was Interesting." Read full review
38
New York PostKyle Smith
The movie is neither an affecting romance (Coco even considers marrying Balsan because "I'd achieve social status") nor an inspiring success story. Chanel sold herself to one guy, happened to get customers through him, and took a start-up loan from another lover. Read full review
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