The Film
The passionate and short-lived affair between an icon of the fashion world and a legend of the classical music realm unfolds in Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky. Coco (Anna Mouglalis) takes Stravinsky (Mads Mikkelsen) and his wife (Yelena Morozova) and four children into her villa outside of Paris to foster the composer's musical talents. But their attraction burns as wife Katarina wastes away from consumption in this true tale told in gothic form.
The Picture
The filmmakers' take on early twentieth century Europe is imbued with a rich, yet dark color palette, well represented on Blu-ray in the disc's 1080p 2.35:1 transfer. Coco's obsession with design is demonstrated in scenes where she's fashioning her clothes by hand as well as the incredible -- and primarily black and white -- look of her villa in Garches France. In certain scenes, hardly a word is required and the crispness of the picture allows gestures and actions to speak volumes for those on screen. While the film is dark, flesh tones are realistic and external scenes in natural settings are even richer with verdant greens and luscious saturated colors.
Every note of Strasinsky's score and other musical numbers are heard clearly in the 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. Dialog (in French), also comes across cleanly so you won't miss a thing. While there is not a great deal of action in the film, the 5.1 surround sound is put to good use with sound effects placed appropriately throughout the sound field. Stage directions during performances, cars driving off, and other nuanced immersive sounds appear just where they should, bringing you a more involving experience overall.
The Extras
Two films were released on Blu-ray this year featuring Ms. Chanel, and this one trails far behind the other on the extras. Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky has a making-of featurette. That's it. The other film, Coco Before Chanel, had multiple featurettes on Chanel's fashions. Here you have two luminaries: Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky, yet little of substance to provide creater insight into their accomplishments, or even their relationship. Features on the clothing and the music, or historical documents or other reference materials are sorely missing. Like the film, the making-of featurette is in French with English subtitles.
Final Thoughts
This beautiful, haunting film of the brief but passionate affair between two icons of the early twentieth century carries over well to home video in this gorgeous looking and sounding Blu-ray disc. While the lack of supplemental materials is disappointing, the film itself will certainly appeal to followers of fashion, classical music, French film -- or film in general -- recounting of a part of history that, while fairly recent, may not be familiar to most viewers.
Product Details
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