Style By Me was invited to pre-screen “Coco Before Chanel” in New York weeks before the premiere. Movie for die-hard fashionistas? No. Movie for biographical melodramatic junkies? Yes.

I say this because the movie falls short in excitement or showcasing amazing costumes. Audrey Tatou doesn’t change much in the movie, and neither do the background characters. They just suffice to understand what women wore in the 1890s-1910s, but since this is before the flapper era (no Paul Poiret stuff really shown either), no real glitz and glamour. Women still wearing tight bodices is really the only reference to the fashion period.

The movie has a sober tone to it, but this helps capture the psychology of the protagonist. Audrey Tatou is amazing at portraying the character of Coco Chanel, especially in the emotions. There are scenes in the movie when it is really quiet and all is concentrated on Tatou’s face. But just her look communicates so much that words could not tell.

I would say this movie is a sad love story of a woman who happens to be one of the most influential designers in history, but not the other way around. The director links Coco Chanel’s earlier life about her relationship with her father to her later relationships with men, which is almost the central part of the story.

Anyway Audrey Tatou is just a great actress and just to watch her play Chanel is enough to watch this movie.