a diamond in pearls

her survival was in the recreation of herself; her success was in the recreation of fashion. in the recreation of her life, on, appropriately, lifetime tv, we are shown a lot of truths, a good number of fictifi- cations, and some of the most beautiful players on the screen today.

prettified, possibly, but somehow, the woman is caught. one can view photographs of the original and see that the leap has not been too great.

the costumes are inter- esting, and also appear to be rather accurate. one wonders, now, what the audrey tautou chanel will be like.

we see a woman with a series of affairs, but we are not told they lasted as long as they did, or that they sometimes occurred simultaneously. literally.

we understand easily now how narrow the line between 'courtesan' and 'friends with benefits' might be.

even shirley maclaine, headliner if minor character, disappears in turning into the stoop-shouldered coco, which she pulls off wonderfully.

perusing the real woman's life, as seen through the eyes of the biographers of her lifetime best friend and bitterest enemy, misia sert, we see her as a diamond: beautiful, unique, and hard.

the film does not hide this.

nor does it hide the aston- ishing changes chanel made in the ways women allowed themselves to appear in the world,
hair, fashion; the way we move.

the film points no fingers. what would you have done with this life? i suppose that theme is common to lifetime tv movies; this time they've really out- done themselves.