An oldie but goodie: Vanessa Paradis for Chanel Coco, 1991. Video quality less than excellent. Below the jump, the “making of”, in French.
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Early inspo for Shakira’s “She Wolf” video?
I want to say I remember seeing this commercial back in the day. If only my teenaged-self at the time would have been able to appreciate the scent.
It’s a wonderful commercial. The ‘making of’ fascinated me — that they really built a cage and everything. In 2009, assume they would do most of that digitally? But it isn’t an area I know anything about.
What a great commercial! I think someone brought this up when we were talking about Coco in Angela’s review. That’s what a perfume ad should be. Love it. Vanessa Paradis is so beautiful.
It’s so perfect. I like it better than the sagas they do for Chanel no. 5.
I found it funny and charming all the same.
Yep.
Oh I remember this commercial! Loved it, what great memories it brings back
That kitty cat is very patient. Mine would be plotting…
True…kitty does not look as menacing as he might.
Thank you, R!! Between this, seeing Audrey Tatou in Coco before Chanel and Angela’s column yesterday, I am seriously jonesing for a bottle. Make it extrait AND vintage to boot, since I’m dreaming anyway.
Damn it.
Oh, how was Coco Before Chanel? Have not seen it yet.
Audrey Tatou was marvelous in it, as was the actor who played her lover/benefactor. I would love to see a sequel; it was just getting going with the fabulous fashions when the story ended, and had yet to get into her fragrances — for us, the best part of the whole Chanel saga.
Yes, I thought it a trifle dull and unsatisfying. I also wished I knew more of the Chanel story before I went. But AT looked great.
Just saw it a few weeks ago and Tauout was dead on. When she became the couturier and started working on her collection I had goosebumps! With this being said prior to watching the film I was pretty well-versed with several biographies of Coco Chanel and overall it’s pretty entertaining but…alas, there are several inaccuracies IMHO–
1. Gabrielle’s younger sister (played by Marie Gillain) isn’t called Adrienne but Antoinette (born 1887) in real life. Adrienne was actually Gabrielle’s aunt. I guess Antoinette got crossed out because her life was quite complicated.
2. Gabrielle found out about what happened to Boy Capel quite differently (no, won’t give away the ending). She wasn’t attending a play–there are several indepedant accounts to verify that she found out very early in the morning. And no, Etienne Balsan wasn’t the one doing the driving in real life–that would have been too awkward.
3. The collection presented at the end of the film isn’t exactly the one Coco Chanel presented because the one in the film had Chanel haute couture pieces from the 30s, 50s and 60s as well. Chanel’s tweed suit and two-tone shoes woldn’t be available until her 1954 comeback collection, for instance. If my memory serves me well the collection Coco presented at the end of the film was, what, early 1920s at the latest? So it was shocking to see all those *futuristic* references–the designer would have been decades ahead of fashion if this were the collection she made then!
Still, at the end of the day “Coco Avant Chanel” is a good movie. The bottom line is that acting in general is quite well done and the movie is sincerely enjoyable. I plan on rewatching it in the near future.
Oh…might as well…Chanel’s real-life sister Antoinette married WWI Canadian pilot Oscar Fleming and moved to Canada after that war. But like many war brides Antoinette couldn’t settle into her new life so she apparently divorced Oscar and moved to Brueno Aires–and when her relationship with an Argentinian didn’t work out Antoinette took her own life. All this was documented in “Le style, c’est moi”, a Chanel biography by Katharina Zilkowski.
Thanks for the detailed review!
No problem! One caveat for those who care about a tiny issue: Alessandro Nivola’s Boy Capel, though completely looks the part, has been picked on by the press due to his accent. If you, like me, prefer watching foreign films with a healthy dose of English subtitles then all is well…but for those who has a working knowledge of French the accent might drive some a bit insane. And by the way I agree that Benoît Poelvoorde’s Etienne Balsan completely steals the show–the way he orders Tautou’s Chanel to sing her *hit* song ‘Qui qu’a vu Coco dans le Trocadero’ at his party for instance is just entertaining. To me it’s even a bit sadistic because as a failed musician I’ve been ordered to play in public even though I didn’t feel like it. Ha!
Thanks ladies!
Love it! I remember seeing this once or twice way back when. Thanks!
Am I the only one who found this kind of unnerving? I can’t put my finger on why.
Well, she’s in a cage, right?
And that’s why several feminist groups complained back then.
I can see why! She starts out as confused by the cage around her (she looks around) and then all of a sudden she starts swinging and decides she loves her captivity. Of course there has to be the cat in the background so that we realize that her cage is actually protecting her and not confining her as we would initially believe.
As irrational as it seems this really, really makes me want to not try this perfume.
That’s just where she belongs — in a cage, so I can have Johnny Depp all to myself! Seriously, though, what a beautiful ad…
LOL…good luck with that.
She looked amazing… but yes, a little unnerving … are we to think wearing Coco renders us as prey?
Honestly, I think it’s nothing more than name play – bird in a gilded cage – bird of paradise, Paradis meaning paradise, and even a play on Tweety bird, always singing while the cat tries to get it (was Tweety a him or a her?), and Paradis being a singer. They certainly don’t make them like this anymore, most the the ads today seem over analyzed in how they are created and presented, even if the end result is beautiful (Kidman’s Chanel ad) it still seems slightly sterilized.
C’est très bien, especially the making of. Great commercial.
Yes. I do wish someone would load a better quality version of the original commercial…don’t know why more brands don’t put their own commercials on YouTube.
the ending is what scared me, the ghost of Chanel with her perfume and caged bird and cat
They wanted very badly to associate the scent with Coco Chanel…it is kind of creepy though.