65
Metascore
30 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Time OutKarina LongworthTime OutKarina LongworthAnne Fontaine’s biopic transforms the designer’s early life into highbrow guilty-pleasure gold.
- 75Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumTautou is a fascinating, unsmiling, petite presence with a severe brow and an androgynous appeal, so much so that I wish Alessandro Nivola (Junebug) were a more robust beau as Arthur ''Boy'' Capel, the love of Chanel's life.
- 75USA TodayClaudia PuigUSA TodayClaudia PuigNot an expansive biopic but a fascinating snapshot of a pivotal chapter for Chanel, her formative fashionista years.
- 70New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNew York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinSurprisingly intimate and nuanced.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterSpectacle, a love triangle, heritage settings, bravura acting, witty dialogue, a bittersweet finale: There's something for everyone in Anne Fontaine's Coco Before Chanel.
- 60EmpireEmpireMore a snapshot of a moment than conventional biography, and while less complex than it might want to be, still a quietly thoughtful look at one of the 20th century’s most influential characters.
- 60VarietyVarietyMore sentimental than chic, Gallic biopic Coco Before Chanel nonetheless knits a convincing portrait of the designer's journey from her humble beginnings as a provincial seamstress to the halls of Parisian haute couture.
- 50The New YorkerAnthony LaneThe New YorkerAnthony LaneToo much of the film feels like one of Balsan’s house parties: undriven, indulgent, quite at ease.
- 50Village VoiceMelissa AndersonVillage VoiceMelissa AndersonThe Coco of Fontaine's project--which she co-wrote with her sister, Camille, freely adapting Edmonde Charles-Roux's book L'Irrégulière: ou, Mon itinéraire Chanel--can be described as courtesan before couturiere.
- 50The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasThere are indications scattered throughout Coco Before Chanel of a major designer quietly and persistently honing her craft, but most of the film could exist without the Chanel name and still smell like the same perfume.