Coco Before Chanel is a 2009 biography-drama, starring French actress Audrey Tautou, of Amelie and The Davinci Code, as Gabrielle Coco Chanel. The film is about Grabrielle Chanel before she became Coco Chanel of the world-famous high-end fashion line. The film follows Gabrielle from when she first leaves the orphanage in which her father abandoned her, and ventures out to get a taste of the world. Work in a small provincial bar, where she augments her job as a singer with work as a seamstress for the other performers, gives Gabrielle her first taste of fashion and the business of clothes. When an affair with Baron Balsan (Benot Poelvoorde) opens the doors to French society to her, she becomes an increasing popular hat designer, even for the wealthiest and most fashionable in society. Falling in love with English businessman Arthur Capel (Alessandro Nivola) opens further doors, but life also gets more complicated. Director Anne Fontaine has received great critical acclaim for the films insightful and honest look into the early life of the lauded designer. Coco Before Chanel was nominated for four BAFTA awards, three European Film Awards, six Csar Awards, and the Academy Award for Best Costume Design.moreless