France, United States

• Coco Chanel

The legend of Gabrielle Chanel, the world's most famous fashion designer, comes alive in this lavish period romance. Chanel's outward glamour, her inner heartache, the luxurious lifestyle she was able to enjoy on gaining access to wealth: all feature in this sumptuous and extravagant production. From orphanage to tailor's shop, then to the château of the prosperous Etienne de Balsan (Rutger Hauer), we follow the beautiful young 'Coco' in search of love. Her passionate affair with rich and politically ambitious Boy Capel (Timothy Dalton) ends in tragedy, leaving her lonely and emotionally desolate just as her career prospects begin to soar to fabulous heights. Marie-France Pisier lends a seductive elegance to the title role of this film portrait of the youthful passions of the woman who was to become a legend in her own lifetime.