Audrey Tautou as iconic couturier. By CALEB STARRENBURG.

THERE ARE few names in the world of fashion more iconic than Chanel. Yet, despite her association with elegance, the designer’s beginnings were anything but. Coco avant Chanel, as the film’s title suggests, is more a snapshot of the designer’s early life than conventional biopic, and this is both its success and failing. Director Anne Fontaine chooses to end things just as they become really interesting, which is perhaps due to allegations of an affair with a Nazi spy that damaged Chanel’s post-war reputation in France (it flourished in the United States).

The film contends Chanel’s formative years had a defining influence on her unconventional design aesthetic, and in this sense the pic is a suitably unconventional take on the mores of the genre. At just 12-years-old Chanel’s mother died and she was sent by her working-class father to a Catholic orphanage. Here she learned the trade of a seamstress and took inspiration from the simple lines of the nun’s religious garb. Later, while working for a local tailor, she took up the patronage of wealthy French socialite Etienne Balsan, and this is where the film is mostly focused.

Trapped in a world of rich white men and their lovers’ over-the-top outfits, Chanel is used and in turns uses those around her to claw her way closer to the beginnings of a trend-setting career. We also watch as she develops a relationship with British playboy Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel, one that would have a lasting impact on her life.

Despite early glimpses of the keen wit and charisma Chanel apparently possessed, Audrey Tautou plays the designer as rather joyless and wears a dour pout throughout most of the film. Many have interpreted her performance as understated genius; I thought it adequate if somewhat unremarkable. In fact, it’s Benoit Poelvoorde’s Balsan that’s often the more interesting character. He’s pitch-perfect as the playboy philanderer who slowly comes to realise he’s let a fox into his heart. Alessandro Nivola as Boy is less convincing, and the chemistry between him and Tautou is mostly lacking.

Visually the film is stunning. France is framed with a befitting elegance by cinematographer Christophe Beaucarne (Irina Palm). Frequent, still shots of Tautou (who looks dazzling and freakishly like the real Chanel) capture her keenly studying her surroundings for inspiration.

While handsomely crafted and enjoyable enough, Coco avant Chanel ultimately fails to live up to the potential of its colourful subject. Admittedly, I’m probably not the target market, and if the ‘sold out’ sign hanging from the box office at my screening is anything to go by, this looks set to become the crowd-pleasing hit of the festival.