Coco Chanel

Lifetime's 2008 film "Coco Chanel" brings back the miniseries of the 1980s, many of which were based on novels by Judith Krantz or her ilk and starred people like Jane Seymour or Stefanie Powers. When the networks ran out of money and their viewerships dropped, they stopped making them.

Lifetime can't do the work of three networks, but it can occasionally bring us something like the entertaining "Coco Chanel" and a star like Shirley MacLaine in the lead as the older, reminiscing Chanel and Barbora Bobulova as the young Chanel.

The fascinating queen of haute couture has been the subject of a Broadway show, a movie starring Audrey Tatou, and several other films, two of which are about her relationship with Igor Stravinsky.

The film does a good job of showing Chanel's poor background, love life, and rise to fame, including her beginnings as a hat maker, the introduction of Chanel No. 5, the Chanel suit, and the little black dress, but eliminates much of probably the most fascinating period of her life, World War II.

During that time. She was arrested for war crimes but never tried due to the intervention of the Royal Family. I suppose that's a movie in itself.

Coco Chanel changed the way women dressed and also introduced a new philosophy of fashion - women should dress for themselves and not their men, and true fashion comes from the streets, or it isn't fashion. She also emphasized the use of accessories.

Chanel was a powerful woman from a humble background in a class-conscious society and depended upon alliances with the wealthy to get her where she needed to go.

In showing this, the movie does a very good job and could not have picked anyone better to play the icon than Shirley MacLaine, who does a fantastic job. One complaint I have is that, as much as I liked Barbora Bobulova, there wasn't enough of the older Chanel. MacLaine's performance really dominates the movie, even when she's not in a scene!

I also liked her suggestion of an accent rather than a full-out French accent. The French accents weren't really necessary because the characters weren't really speaking English with a French accent, they were speaking French. In that case, no accent is necessary. MacLaine gave Chanel more of a cosmopolitan accent.

All in all, a strong portrait of a fascinating woman.

A wonderful television film-just like the great television films they made in the 1970s.

The film is great due to the presence of the wonderful Shirley MacLaine. The latter portrays Chanel in her later years. There is a wonderful constant use of flashbacks here that convey the image of Chanel as a woman who conquered the world of fashion but whose personal life was quite a heartbreak.

My main criticism of the film was what happened to Chanel during World War 11? We see how her life evolved during the 1st World War.

In a way, MacLaine reminded me of her performance as the imperious music teacher, Madame Sousatzka, some years back. She still has that commanding domineering performance in her characters.

This is an excellent study of social class as Chanel lost two lovers due to the opposition of the mother of the first and the father of the second.

Chanel was definitely an eccentric as the film well depicts. She certainly went a long way to change the styles of what women wore during the years.

Shirley Maclaine is wonderful as the late older version of Coco Chanel who sets out again to prove her art as one of the finest fashion designers of ladies' fashions and perfume in the world. Barbara Borovona is also wonderful as the younger version of Coco Chanel who rises despite tragedy, hardship, and success. In this film, there are flashbacks and wonderfully done to show Coco's rise from a seamstress assistant to her own visionary. Malcolm McDowell (he deserves knighthood or something) is fine as Coco's business partner. I don't recall the names of the other cast members but they were all fine. I could see why Coco Chanel succeeded even in a male dominated business field at the time of ladies' fashion. Coco understood women being one herself and how clothes should be expressed and comfortable as well. It should be the men who get to be comfortable, women should be too.

I was enjoying the first half of the movie, but it started to drag by hour 2 with still some time on the clock...but it was a made-for-TV movie, so...

The younger Chanel was great, but Shirley MacClaine was a horrible choice for the older Coco. She may be a great actress but cannot pull off being a Frenchwoman! I cringed whenever she opened her mouth.

Finally, after the movie I did some research about the real Coco and the movie totally glossed over her antisemitism, homophobia, and pro-Nazism. It is hard for me to think of her as icon after learning that. Of course, the irony is that Chanel is now headed by two Jewish men whom she previously derided.

Yeah, I agree with the other review. Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel was a Nazi spy and an opportunist.