Review: Couture

Courtesy of Closer Media.

Alice Winocour's "Couture" observes a moment in the lives of three women who are all, in one form or fashion, taking part in Paris Fashion Week. Each has their own challenges, although some are more serious than others.

As we meet Angelina Jolie's Maxine, she is preparing to shoot a short film that will kick off Paris Fashion Week. A bigwig at Chanel is apparently a fan of Maxine's indie vampire movie - and she's on the precipice of getting her big break and directing something of a larger scale - and has invited her to shoot the fashion-related short.

But during her trip, she gets a call from her doctor back home, who tells her that a health screening in which she took part led to some concerns, and tells her she should get further testing done while in Paris. He recommends a friend, Hensen (Vincent Lindon), who breaks the news that she has an aggressive form of breast cancer. He recommends that she undergo an operation in Paris, promising that unlike other doctors he intends to try to salvage as much of her breast as possible, rather than do a full mastectomy. 

Elsewhere, a young model from Sudan named Ada (Anyier Anei) has just arrived in Paris and, we are told, will star in Maxine's film and be the lead model on the runway during the accompanying Paris Fashion Week event. She is a novice and soaks up all of the advice she is given from the models in the flat where she's crashing - they hail from China, France, and a variety of other places, although it's a Ukrainian model with whom Ada bonds, despite their rocky start.

Ada, once a pharmacy student in her home country, has lied to her father about why she's in Paris. Only her younger brother, who frequently tries to contact her via Facetime, knows the real purpose of her visit. Ada is open to the adventure she is undertaking, although she's not sure whether it's the right choice for her.

The film's third character is a makeup artist named Angele (Ella Rumpf) who longs to be a writer and is struggling with a book that she's trying to complete. The models appear to respect her and it's easy to see why - unlike others depicted here from the fashion world, she is supportive to those who sit in the chair as she applies makeup and she's full of good advice. However, the editor with whom she is working believes that her manuscript won't draw much interest outside of the fashion world.

"Couture" bounces back and forth between these three stories, all three of which are engrossing, although Angele's story is the one that receives the least amount of development. Jolie gives a soulful performance as Maxine, a woman whose time has come career-wise, but who is faced with the terrifying prospect of her failing health and can't think of a way to break the news to her daughter. Anei is also convincing as Ada, who is not yet confident about her abilities as a model and seems in a state of dazed wonder at the luminous city in which she finds herself.

If there are any problems with "Couture," it's that some of the storylines just slightly stretch credibility. For example, would Maxine's health situation be so dire that she would need to see a doctor and undergo an operation during the short period of time she's in Paris? Would Ada, a novice, really be the first model to come out on the runway during a Paris Fashion Week event? And a brief sexual encounter between Maxine and Anton (Louis Garrel), a colleague on the short film, seems to exist for no real reason.

But otherwise, this is an intriguing, well acted, and often moving film about the challenges of three women who are all involved, at least momentarily, in the same industry but who are very different in terms of background, history, and the stage of life at which they find themselves. There have been many films set inside the world of fashion, but "Couture" has a vibe that is different from most of the ones I can recall.