Coco Before Chanel – the movie & my reflections

I think God sends us messages in strange ways – sometimes through movies. I’ll explain.

My mother and I had been planning to see this movie for a long time, and finally, last night we made it. I am so glad I took the time out of my work week to go. I got so much more out of this evening than just 90 minutes of distraction from my problems – I also got some necessary and timely personal reminders about who I am and how I want to live my life.

The movie is about Coco’s life up to the time she became famous and is very much a love story and, in my opinion, also a story about being true to yourself. I think it helped that I really knew nothing about Coco’s history. All I knew was that she made gorgeous clothes, and of course, her infamous Chanel jackets and suits.

This movie is in French with English subtitles, but reading the subtitles (for me, anyway) in no way interfered with my enjoyment of the movie. As a child, when it came time to study a foreign language, I chose French over Spanish. I did this for a couple reasons – Spanish was just what everyone else did and was way too easy for me – and I’ve never been one to do what everyone else did for the sake of fitting in – and intuitively I felt French was harder – and more romantic. I was right. Had this movie been in English, I doubt it would have had the same effect on me. The French language added that extra bit of romanticism and I found I could even understand a tiny bit of it. Overall, I don’t think there was anything about this movie that I didn’t enjoy. I even cried at the end.

There were a couple messages that I got out of the movie too. First, I didn’t know anything about Coco’s life, or the fact that she and her sister were abandoned by their father when Coco was about 9 and raised in an orphanage. She didn’t have the parents that she wanted and for a time she denied her upbringing by telling stories of a greater childhood than the one she had. The message I got out of this was that we don’t always get the parents we want, or the childhood we want, but as adults, we have the opportunity to take those hurts and turn them to our advantage, or just simply let them go and be who we are meant to be.

Coco also refused to fit in with what everyone else was doing. She refused to wear what all the other women were wearing and was her own person – strong, outspoken, and independent. She knew what she wanted and went after it. She knew she would be happier supporting herself and working rather than being dependent and supported by a man. As a result, she created her own empire and legacy by being true to herself. Being true to one’s self is a mantra my father had that he passed on to me, and a way of living that I’ve tried to follow all my life, and it is particularly timely for me now as I deal with some family struggles that are testing my resolve to hold firm to this stance. It’s also ironic that I’d hear this message while at the movies with my mom, since the need to be true to myself is related to a situation that revolves around my mom.

She also intuitively knew that she would never be anyone’s wife. I cried in that scene because I could relate to that intuition. Although it was her hope to have that experience, she knew somehow that it would never be. I think I feel the same way about myself. This isn’t a melodramatic or defeatist statement, nor was it really that for her, it seemed, but more a statement of acknowledging what life’s messages are telling her (or me) and accepting it, not settling, and continuing on in spite of this understanding to lead a full and happy life.

At the end of the movie, you see her sitting at the top of a set of stairs as her runway collection of the most gorgeous clothes pass by her. She reflects, with a somber, somewhat sad and dreamy look, on her life to that point, while the models pass by one by one. Finally, they all turn toward her and applaud her, and as her montage of memories concludes, she breaks into a soft and subtly proud smile.

So, the message I got is this: Regardless of your life path, the childhood you had or didn’t have, the parenting you wanted and didn’t get (or got and didn’t want), or the advantages you did or did not have, it is possible to be happy and successful (and not just in a monetary sense) with the gifts God’s given you. And above all, by being true to yourself, even it if it is sometimes a lonely road, you can still experience joy and abundance in life – in all its forms.

Tagged as: Attitude, being true to yourself, Coco Before Chanel, life, living life, movie reviews, Relationships, success