Friday, November 5, 2010

Friday Film Fest: Get Out Your String of Pearls. . .


Rosalyn has just given me a copy of a wonderful new biography of Coco Chanel by Justine Picardie, whose novel Daphne, a fictional account of Daphne du Maurier, I loved and reviewed here, a couple of years ago. I'm looking forward to reading Coco Chanel: The Legend and The Life; I spent over an hour in bed last night, just looking at all the gorgeous photos and artwork.  It's truly a beautifully designed and packaged book. And the author has a fun blog located here where she's detailing part of her book tour with lots of Chanel inspired photos.

I can't think of a better way to spend a chilly November weekend, then curled up on the sofa in some fabulously decadent silk pajamas with this book, a cup of hot cocoa (pun intended) and DVDs of two biographical films that explore very different aspects of Chanel's life.  Start with Coco Before Chanel with Audrey Tautou portraying the young Coco pulling herself out of poverty, and starting to design thanks to the help of a wealthy lover. Then move on to Coco & Igor that details the affair between the more established Chanel and the struggling composer Igor Stravinsky.  The interior set designs of this movie will leave you speechless - never has black and white looked so beautiful and glamourous. While I prefer the earlier movie, Coco & Igor does try to reproduce on film the opening night of Stravinsky's ballet The Rite of Spring and the riots that followed.  For that alone, the film is worth seeing.


No comments: