COCO AVANT CHANEL (PG)  ****

Starring Audrey Tatou, Alessandro Nivola

Directed by Anne Fontaine

It is one of fashion’s greatest ironies that its star performer, the embodiment of chic, was born a dirt-poor peasant in the late 1800s.

Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel lived to influence an entire industry at a time when men ruled the world, and it is during this time, hence the title, that Fontaine keeps her focus.

There’s passing familiarity in a story that loosely mirrors that of another French icon, Edith Piaf. Both overcame an impossible upbringing and remained loveably abrasive and cantankerous despite the pleasures of international stardom.

Tatou perfectly captures that intransigence, barely breaking a smile in the film’s first half. Bearing an unsettling physical resemblance, she brings a great deal more to Coco than mere stubbornness as assorted life events are ticked off. It’s her expressive performance that gives the film weight and meaning.

While purists may rail at a tampered chronology, Coco’s own freewheeling embellishments of time and truth make it quite excusable, even necessary, perhaps. And in realigning the highs, lows, friends and lovers of a full life, it lends the story a greater ring of truth.

Shot with candour and supported by a compelling score, Coco Avant Chanel is a sturdy memoir of one of the 20th century’s leading figures.