FAQ

In 1913, Coco Chanel (Anna Mouglalis) attends the Paris premiere of Igor Stravinsky's (Mads Mikkelsen) "The Rite of Spring". She admires his composition (not so the audience) such that, when she meets Stravinsky seven years later, she agrees to be his patron and invites him and his family—wife Katia (Elena Morozova) (who is suffering from tuberculosis), two sons Teodor (Maxime Daniélou) and Sulima (Nikita Ponomarenko), and two daughters Ludmilla (Sophie Hasson) and Milena (Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (2009))—to stay at her villa near Paris. Soon Coco and Stravinsky begin to see kindred spirits in each other. Unfortunately, Katia can also see their attraction to each other but at first turns her head to it.

Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky is based on Coco & Igor (2002), a novel by British novelist Chris Greenhalgh. The controversial work of semi-fiction is based on the author's interpretation of a romantic relationship between Chanel and Stravinsky during 1920. Greenhalgh also wrote the screenplay for the movie with adaptations by Carlo de Boutiny and Jan Kounen (who also directed the movie).

Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel [1883-1971] was a French fashion designer who rose from designing hats to running a successful fashion house in Paris to designing costumes for Hollywood movies. Igor Fyodorovitch Stravinsky [1882-1971] was a Russian composer and conductor, most well known for his ballets The Firebird (1910) and The Rite of Spring (1913).

The movie is mostly in French, although considerable Russian is spoken between the members of the Ballets Russes as well as between Stravinsky, his wife and children.

The 33-minute performance of "The Rite of Spring" (in French: Le Sacre du printemps; in Russian: Sacred Spring) is subtitled "Pictures from Pagan Russia" and tells the story of a pagan ritual in which a young girl dances herself to death as a sacrifice to the god of spring in order to gain his benevolence. As depicted in the movie, it was choreographed by the great Russian ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky [1890-1950]. Unfortunately, most of the original choreography by Nijinsky is lost, and few choreographers have attempted to re-choreograph it. Most performances today are given as a musical piece at orchestral concerts.

...after Coco has shown him his new study? "Five Easy Pieces for Piano, first piece: Andante" by Igor Stravinsky. Those who are familiar with this piece are amused because the work was for four hands. After Coco closes the door behind her, it seems that Stravinsky has grown two more hands to play the piece.

...when he teaches Coco to play the piano? "Les Cinqs Doigts" by Igor Stravinsky.

...after the dinner party at which Igor gets drunk? It's a short piece from "Le Sacre du Printemps", the orchestral/ballet piece that was premiered at the beginning of the film.

Katia decides to take the children and move to Biarritz. She leaves a note for Coco beseeching her to end the affair with Igor for the sake of his family, who needs him much more than she (Coco) does. Coco complies and tells Igor that she will not be his mistress. The final several minutes of the film are a montage of scenes featuring Coco and Igor in their old age, each looking back at the memories of their six months together in 1920. Following the credits, there is a scene of Coco with a new, unidentified lover. However, a photo of Igor Stravinsky still stands on her sofa table.

Katerina 'Katia' Stravinskaya died in 1939, after which Igor Stravinsky married his lifelong companion Vera de Bosset.

Other films about Coco Chanel include Chanel Solitaire (1981) (1981), Coco Chanel (2008) (2008), and Coco Before Chanel (2009) (2009).