Hey, folks. Capone in Chicago here, with a couple of films that are making their way into art houses around America this week (maybe even taking up one whole screen at a multiplex near you). Do your part to support these films, or at least the good ones…
COCO CHANEL AND IGOR STRAVINSKY
Serving as something of a sequel to the recent COCO BEFORE CHANEL look at the fashion icon's rise from obscurity, this latest work from director Jan Kounen (Dobermann) concerns a very specific sliver of time when the lives of Chanel (the stunning Anna Mouglalis) and composer Igor Stravinsky (CASINO ROYALE's Mads Mikkelsen), seven years after the notoriously disastrous premiere of his "The Rite of Spring" at the Theatre des Champes-Elysees. Chanel was impressed with the work, and when she runs into him and his family living destitute in Paris after fleeing the Russian Revolution, she invites them all to take refuge in her palatial home so Igor can work in peace while the children and his sickly wife (Yelena Morozova) are looked after and distracted.
But Chanel has ulterior motives for her generosity; she is deeply attracted to the artist, and her aloof, glamorous demeanor soon has Stravinsky under her spell. The film seems to indicate that Igor never really respected what Coco did for a living, but it also implies that she never cared. She had enough people in her life praising her work that she didn't require this man to do so. Their relationship was deeply passionate, and every encounter is fraught with tension because all of this was happening under one, albeit very large, roof.
It's entirely possible to lose oneself in the production and costume design of COCO CHANEL AND IGOR STRAVINSKY, much of which was on loan from the archives of the Chanel company. Each room in her house is as immaculately laid out as she was--simple lines, black and white, elegant to perfection. But there's also a deliberate coldness to both Chanel's home and Mouglalis' performance. I was actually genuinely entranced by the filmmaking and the acting here. This is a work that thrives on an understated canvas, except when it comes to the fairly explicit sex scenes. But for the most part, emotions are rarely expressed, unless that emotion is anger and/or resentment, which springs its head late in the game. COCO CHANEL AND IGOR STRAVINSKY is beautifully directed by Kounen, and the screenplay (from Kounen and Carlo De Boutiny, from Chris Greenhalgh's novel) boils the relationship down to its essential lustful core. There's an odd coda to the film that may have audiences shaking their heads, but by that point I was on board with this haunting work about two passionate artists at their peak finding something like love with each other. I'm not sure this is a great movie, but it held my interest without fail.
LET IT RAIN
There's a little repertoire company in France that tends to work together under the direction of actress Agnes Jaoui (THE TASTE OF OTHERS, LOOK AT ME, and the co-writer of FAMILY RESEMBLANCES and SMOKING/NO SMOKING) and her husband, co-writer, and acting partner Jean-Pierre Bacri. Each film is a biting, energetic comment on the human condition and bad behavior, and their latest work, LET IN RAIN, is among the best they have put together. Jaoui plays a politician with ambitions of running for office, but doesn't seem to like people, including her boyfriend. She seems equal parts flattered and annoyed when a documentary filmmaker (Jamel Debbouze) asks to shoot a segment of his film about powerful women on her. His bumbling partner (Bacri) seems intent on finding new and glorious ways of ruining each shoot, and the combination of the three leads to some enlightened conversations about the sociology of sex roles, ineffectual government, the death of romance, and whatever else comes into their minds.
Each character has trials and tribulations. Bacri is trying to stay close to his young son, while carrying on a relationship with a married woman. Debbouze's attempting to make a better life for his family, including his aging mother, who is a housekeeper for Jaoui's recently dead mother. There's only the barest sketch of a plot in LET IN RAIN, but this film isn't about the narrative; it's about digging deep into the qualities of its characters that make them worth knowing. At its core, the film is a comedy, but there are moments of true frustration and pain in the lives of these people that might make you want to sob openly. Like rain itself, this work is something you let fall over you a drop at a time until you are soaked in its greatness. Okay, maybe that metaphor doesn't quite do it, but you get the idea. LET IN RAIN is a charming, funny, and moving experience.
-- Capone
capone@aintitcool.com
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