Her name is synonym to fashion and style. He is considered a major musician of his era. Their surprisingly parallel lives managed to intersect in 1920 for what became an intense love affair.
“Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky,” a film by Jan Kounen adapted from the novel “Coco & Igor” by Chris Greenhalgh, develops an imagined world around the few known facts of the passionate affair between the two creative giants.
Set in 1913, the film opens with the beautiful Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel (played by French Anna Mouglalis) attending the historical concert premiere of Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” at the Treatre Des Champs-Elysees. It then jumps seven years to their second meeting in 1920, when an already successful Chanel invites the impoverished composer (played by Danish Mads Mikkelsen) to move into her villa along with his tuberculosis-stricken wife and children. The artistic and creating meeting of minds experienced by Chanel and Stravinsky fuels a passionate intimate relationship expressed in steamy love encounters.
That Chanel and Stravinsky were romantically involved is a fact that his biographers, Robert Craft and Steven Walsh, and her confidant, writer Paul Morand, have all confirmed. The details of their affair are, however, unknown. This is where Greenhalgh’s imagination creates a world of beauty and elegance that transforms the story of these historical figures into an appealing and universal love story. And although there are no letters left between Chanel and Stravinsky to disclose the depth of their emotions, some can be derived from knowing that it was in 1920-21, precisely in the middle of their liaison, that Chanel developed her famous No. 5, and Stravinsky revived “The Rite of Spring” with a noticeable new passion.
In an effort to recreate the world of Coco Chanel as faithfully as possible, CHANEL, and its creative director, Karl Lagerfeld, made available their archives and collections. Several original garments and accessories were provided for actress Mouglalis to wear in her role. CHANEL also granted the filmmakers full access to Coco Chanel’s celebrated apartment at 31, Rue Cambon, Paris. Other than Stravinsky’s own, all music is original by Gabriel Yared, who reportedly considers Igor his idol.
Today, Chanel is a fashion staple, every woman would love to wear the masterful combination of 80 ingredients in a Chanel No. 5, and most have listened to a Stravinsky creation, even if only his “Firebird” in Disney’s animated film “Fantasia.” Even then, “Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky”’s nicely told story is bound to inspire its audience to know more about the two successful artists.
Opens Friday June 11th, 2010 at Laemmle Royal Theater - 11523 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90025. In French with English subtitles. Rated: R. Run Time: 118 mins.
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