'Coco' presents drama of icon's earliest years

“Coco Before Chanel” begins with an abandoned girl named Gabrielle, watches her grow into a music hall chanteuse, who then sidesteps prostitution by becoming a mistress.

All the while, from behind the clouds of her cigarettes, she regards the world with unforgiving realism and stubborn ambition. She doesn’t set out to become the most influential fashion icon of the 20th century. She begins by designing a hat, making a little money and striving to better herself. She wants money and independence.

Anne Fontaine’s star, Audrey Tautou, who could make lovability into a career, avoids any effort to make Coco Chanel nice, soft or particularly sympathetic. Her fashions may have liberated women from the hideous excesses of the late 19th century, but she creates them not out of idealism but because they directly reflect her inalterable personality.

Perhaps because of its unsentimental approach to Chanel’s life, “Coco Before Chanel” strikes me as a drama. It’s not about rags to riches but about survival of the fittest. Is Coco, young and poor, used by the rich playboy Etienne Balsan (Benoît Poelvoorde)? Perhaps he thought so early in their relationship, but she uses him as well. She likes him, but she signed aboard for money, status and entry, not merely sex and romance.

The film loses some of its fascination when Coco is unmistakably launched on her career path. But that’s when the story ends; this is titled “Coco Before Chanel” for a reason.

Coco Before Chanel

Cast: Audrey Tautou, Benoît Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola, Marie Gillain

Director: Anne Fontaine

Theater: Kimball’s

Rated: Rated PG-13 (for sexual content and images of smoking)

Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

GRADE: A-