I don’t understand why, for the most part, films that deal with fashion HAVE to be so artsy. I get the connection, but especially with French cinema, there is a “get on my level” component to it that almost prides itself on its level of pretentious, almost daring me to understand and appreciate it.
Hence… Couture.
Writer/director Alice Winocour brings this tale that I can only use the official IMDb description of in “An American filmmaker faces challenges and self-discovery as she arrives in Paris for Fashion Week on a life-and-death journey”. On the surface, that is an interesting concept, but I don’t think that is an accurate account of what this movie is simply because I don’t think IT knows what it is.
While there is that storyline (to an extent) in Maxine Walker’s (Angelina Jolie) character arc, there are at least two other storylines that exist within this film as well that take up as much if not more time than hers. With Ada (Anyier Anei), who is pursuing a modeling career to help with her family (which is not really well fleshed out) to Angèle (Ella Rumpf), a makeup artist trying to break free and become an artist herself, Couture just seems to be all over the place in its storytelling. If this was just about Maxine’s journey and how she comes to grips with the whirlwind that surrounds her, that would be one thing; however, this Melrose Place seen through the lenses of a ‘90s Calvin Klein ad with 2000s sensibilities, I could not engage with this more than a few minutes at a time. Also, since this is French, there is a level of subtitling to deal with in case that is not your bag. The performances themselves are strong, but that is about as far as I can go there.
Given that this is a French film, the highlight really is the visual aspect of it. André Chemetoff with his resume of music videos and fashion commercials is really the right choice given the subject matter and what this script seemingly called for, but a script that just seems to do what it wants when it wants to almost thumb its nose at its audience if it dares not adore it does not balance at all.
I can’t say that I was surprised that Couture did not knock my socks off, being someone that is fairly open-minded when it comes to art, this just doesn’t warrant any type of recommendation from me. This is not the worst film I have seen this year, but unless you are someone who is more of a film critic than a movie reviewer and enjoy the “art for art’s sake” type of crowd, this is one that really does not need to be on your radar when looking for a way to spend a couple of hours.