Coco Before Chanel

Coco Before Chanel tells the story of Gabrielle Chanel in the years before she became a famous name in fashion. Raised in an orphanage in central France, where she waited in vain for a father who never came back for her, she works in a provincial bar, sewing costumes for performers and singing for rowdy crowds, who give her the nickname Coco. A relationship with the wealthy Étienne Balsan brings her into a society of leisure, and she later falls for the English businessman Arthur "Boy" Capel. Through these attachments she begins to experiment with clothing, simplifying her own dress and drawing on men's shirts, laying the groundwork for the style that would later define her.

Anne Fontaine directed and co-wrote the film with Camille Fontaine. It was released in 2009 and sits between her earlier Nathalie... (2004) and the later Adoration (2013) in the eight features she has directed. Audrey Tautou plays Chanel, with Benoît Poelvoorde as Balsan, Alessandro Nivola as Boy Capel, Marie Gillain as Adrienne Chanel and Emmanuelle Devos as Émilienne d'Alençon. Across a cast of thirty-three credited performers, the film runs 110 minutes.

IMDb users rate it 6.6/10 from about 44,000 votes, while TMDB voters give it 6.9/10 from far fewer, just over a thousand, so the larger IMDb sample is the more settled figure. A critics' rating of 6.2/10 from 131 reviews places professional response slightly below audience appreciation on both platforms.