This weekend, I went to the Spectrum Theater to see Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky. I read excellent reviews about the movie and love the music of Stravinsky so I HAD to see it. Before seeing the movie, I did not know a lot about Coco Chanel other than that she was a famous designer.
The film opens up in Paris, France in 1913. Stravinsky and the Russian Ballet are in town and performing Stravinsky’s newest piece The Rite of Spring. Chanel is in the audience wearing a beautiful white dress enjoying the performance as her fellow Parisians begin a riot and jeer at the ballet with “Go back to Russia”.
Seven years later: Coco’s lover has died and she begins to only wear black as if in constant mourning of him. She is a wealthy woman that owns her own boutique. Coco meets Igor Stravinsky at a party where they begin their relationship. Later on, they meet at a museum at which Coco offers Stravinsky and his family a place to live; her villa in the country. She knows that Stravinsky is a “starving” artist and cannot go back to his homeland where the Russian Revolution has begun. At this point, the viewer can begin to see chemistry between Coco and Igor. Igor seems to be very interested in Coco by the way he looks at her when she speaks, but Coco is standoffish? Perhaps she is still in mourning of her lover.
Igor and his family move in with Coco. At first, everything seems pretty normal. The family is adjusting well to living in the country although it is hard for Igor’s wife, Katherine, to get use to Coco’s taste in décor. Katherine is dying of tuberculosis and it is hoped that the fresh air will help her heal. Igor begins to compose at the piano with his wife as his right handed (wo)“man”; she corrects his music and tells him what does or does not sound good. The longer the Stravinsky’s stay at Coco’s, the more decayed Katherine becomes as well as her and Igor’s relationship. One late night when Igor is composing, Coco sneaks in his study and has sex with him. This is the beginning of the affair that later causes Katherine to leave with her children.
What did I notice in this film? Igor and Coco were both very talented and selfish people. During their affair, Igor wrote a brilliant new piece and Coco designed her perfume Chanel Number 5. Coco also began to wear color and design in color. When their affair ends, Coco does not seem very hurt, or upset by it. It almost seems that she used the affair to push them to their limits, to become a better designer and Igor a composer. Coco Chanel was a woman who got whatever she wanted whenever she wanted it. Her affair with Igor did not make her any less of an independent woman, but allowed her to get over her past love.
It did make upset that Coco used a man, and took advantage of his body and feelings in order to become more independent and famous. She also did not respect Igor’s wife, Katherine, who knew the affair was taking place. I can’t imagine how one woman knows that a man is married, and still continues to have an affair with him. I know Igor is to blame as well, but Coco knew that Katherine was dying and that Igor had children to care for. Nonetheless, she continued the affair with him until she got everything she needed and dumped him.
Strong? Yes. Powerful? Yes. Independent? Yes. Bitch? Yes.
Hmmm...I suppose the first thing I should say is that after reading your review, I totally want to see this film now! It's not something I would usually see, but it looks fascinating.
ReplyDeleteAs for the whole "how can a woman know that her husband is in an affair and not do anything about it," I will make my comment based on what I know about these types of things. Personally, I have not had experience with this and I really don't condone it, but from what I have heard and read, some women will feel that they are inadequate somehow (physically, sexual, emotionally, etc) and that the new lover will take over for that inadequacy. Other women think that the cheating is a phase that will die out once the sex starts to become routine. And still other women hate confrontation and causing ordeals in front of children (the same way some couples will not divorce--for the sake of the children). Therefore, some women, like Stravinsky's wife, may not have intervened because she was just too physically ill and unable to deal with the emotional turmoils so close to her death. She might also have felt that if Stravinski had found another person to make him happy (at least briefly) and help continue his successful career, then it might be worth it to allow the affair to continue.
However, the fact that she decided to run away with the children shows that she might not have wanted to admit that an affair was taking place, or let her children's memories of the perfect family be ruined. It sounds so corny, but we really will never know why Stravinski's wife did not face Coco...but it seemed like the film captured the conflicts and drama beautifully.
A film that came out last year, COCO BEFORE CHANEL, mostly portrays the years before Chanel worked a fashion deisgner. Played by Audrey Tautou, Chanel is a decidedly more symptathetic figure. I haven't yet decided if it's merely the different portrayals by two very different actresses, although this is clearly part of it Ms. Tautou is hard to hate, and can't seem to play a hard-hearted character; her Coco is spunky and iconoclastic, but has a warmer demeanor than the portrayal in COCO CHANEL and IGOR STRAVINSKY.
ReplyDeleteI do think Mads Mikkelsen's portrayal was wonderful, very complex and strong. He is one of my favorite actors.
I did appreciate that this film suggests Coco Chanel could only have achieved what she did professionally because she acted with such detachment in her personal life. I am guessing that biographical accounts support this interpretation, but I don't know.