Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky
Dir: Jan Kounen
2009
**
Jan Kounen's Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky is absolutely dripping in chic and quite rightly so. Any biopic about Coco Chanel should have the same level of style and elegance as she did. That said, the film is generally style over substance. Anna Mouglalis is compelling and appropriately dour as Chanel and Mads Mikkelsen manages to emote a thousand emotions with the tightening of a single facial muscle but there is a lifelessness to the overall film that comes down to the fact that no one really knows anything about the affair and so there isn't that much to say on the matter. The film wanders dangerously into hearsay and seems at a loss most of the time as to what it should be and so just sits there and looks pretty. A subtle critique on the Queen of chic maybe, but more likely a result of a great visual director in need of a better scriptwriter.
Les Infideles (AKA The Players)
Dir: Jean Dujardin, Gilles Lellouche, Emmanuelle Bercot, Fred Cavayé, Michel Hazanavicius, Eric Lartigau, Alexandre Courtes, Jan Kounen
2012
***
The humour is crass, chauvinistic and immature but it makes up for it with plenty of charm. Sex and fidelity are the main themes of these six shorts, all starring Jean Dujardin and Gilles Lellouche as two testosterone-fueled sex hungry cheats, although they play different guys in each unique situation. Interesting to see that the only short directed by a Woman is the most serious and involves the Woman cheating on the man. The theme is age old, never does the film justify or condone cheating on your wife, in fact the conclusion will shock any testosterone fueled cheating Man's man and tell them what they're real motivation/problem is but this is Mediterranean man, or at least the stereotype, it is not to be taken seriously. Their favourite TV program for many years was the Benny Hill Show for goodness sake, at least they've come a bit further than that (Mr. Bean)! Jean Dujardin and Gilles Lellouche are consistently funny though and there are plenty of genuine belly laughs to be had. I watched it with my Wife and she feels the same way. Funny and well written and to be swallowed with a pinch of salt.
