Coco before Chanel

Lavish biopic in which Audrey Tautou plays Gabrielle Chanel, the orphan who went on to found one of the world's most famous fashion houses. Bedraggled after a tough childhood, Chanel arrives at the house of her boorish lover and starts cutting up his clothes.

Liz Beardsworth, Empire: Part of the film's success lies in the fact that while on paper it's a tale of triumph, its mood is sombre. Audrey Tautou's Chanel is a complex figure, emotionally broken at an early age, yet impish, daring, challenging and very much her own woman, even as her relationships repeatedly leave her short-changed... Shot with an elegance befitting of the subject and with a sartorial pay-off that will thrill dedicated fashionistas, Fontaine's film is an attractive tribute to one of fashion's more mysterious figures. (Verdict: three stars out of five)

Nina Caplan, Time Out: Anne Fontaine's film has two interests: clothes and Audrey Tautou. The outfits are purposefully terrible: Coco's early homemade monstrosities may have been original, but they didn't have much else over the corseted excesses of the Edwardian era. But Tautou is wonderful - a black-eyed urchin so sullen and furious you forget how beautiful she is until she smiles. (Verdict: four stars out of five) ·