When we were kids my mom had a friend whose dog was called Coco. It was a brown poodle and it had quite the personality. If its owner was around it was a bouncy, cute, cuddly little thing. When the owner was out of sight, the dog became "Killer". That little dog could bear its fangs and scare the you know what right out of you and then when its owner appeared, she would bounce around and look all cute and want you to pet her. My dad named her Coco LaFontaine in a moment of hilarity (sorry, the details escape me now). One of my favorite pictures is my dad sitting with CocLaF sitting on his lap and he has his hands handily out of the way just in case she turns on him!!!
Well, her namesake, Coco Chanel, had her own biopic on Lifetime this week and I taped it so I could watch it in less than 3 hours. She was quite the little personality herself. She was coy and mean, she was smart and savvy, naive and trusting of the wrong people. She carved a place for herself in a world that did not encourage women to do anything but be a wife and mother. She wore pants(!!) before WWI and got rid of corsets and constrictions. She had one great love of her life who died on his way to reconcile with her.
Doesn't that sound like the most interesting movie?? Not really, it was kind of a snooze. The clothes were fabulous. It was funny to see some critic turn up his nose at the classic fringed Chanel jacket. And I did find out where her penchant for pearls came from. But the girl who played her was boring and Shirley LaMcLaine played her when she reentered the world of fashion as an old woman. They plastered so much makeup on Ms. McL and then shot so many close ups, I thought I could see her make up peeling off! Not a good look on anyone...I'm sure Mademoiselle Chanel would have been appalled.
Mon Dieu!! Can moviemakers get nothing right?
No comments:
Post a Comment