COCO CHANEL & IGOR STRAVINKSY

Opening June 2010
Starring: Mads Mikkelsen & Anna Mouglalis
Directed by: Jan Kounen

Paris 1913.

At the Theatre Des Champs-Elysées, Igor Stravinsky premieres his "The Rite Of Spring."
Coco Chanel attends the premiere and is mesmerized…But the revolutionary work is too modern, too radical: the enraged audience boos and jeers. A near riot ensues. Stravinsky is inconsolable.

Seven years later, now rich, respected and successful, Coco Chanel meets Stravinsky again - a penniless refugee living in exile in Paris after the Russian Revolution. The attraction between them is immediate and electric. Coco offers Stravinsky the use of her villa in Garches so that he will be able to work, and he moves in straight away, with his children and consumptive wife. And so a passionate, intense love affair between two creative giants begins...

The production of Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky had the support of Karl Lagerfeld and CHANEL who have generously made available their archives and collections. CHANEL lent several original garments and accessories to be worn by Mademoiselle Anna Mouglalis in the role of Mademoiselle Chanel, and Karl Lagerfeld specially created a ‘timeless’ suit and an embroidered evening dress for the scene recreating the legendary and scandalous 1913 performance of The Rite Of Spring. In order to recreate the world of Coco Chanel as faithfully as possible, CHANEL also granted the film makers full access to its archives and to Coco Chanel’s celebrated apartment at 31, rue Cambon, Paris.

Being obsessed with all things "Coco," I headed to a screening of Coco & Igor this afternoon. It was as dark in places as the composition on which the storyline hinges. Beautifully shot and portrayed — by Mads Mikkelsen (soon to be seen in “Clash of the Titans”) & Anna Mouglalis — it shows a somewhat hardened Chanel picking up where the movie, Coco Before Chanel (starring Audrey Tautou) left off.

Gone is the ambitious, doe-eyed "Coco." Instead we see a grieving, fiercely independent pioneer determined to carve her place in history. Having read the book, I found it a little hard to be objective. The end is somewhat cliched, but if you love fashion, Coco & Igor is worth a see.