Chanel Untold
There are two major feature films released this year about the life of legendary fashion designer, Coco Chanel. But neither concerns itself with the most controversial, dramatic time in her life.
The only place you'll find this incident portrayed is in a new animated short on the net, called 'CHANNEL untold'. It can be seen at www.callousproductions.com.
During World War Two, Coco Channel lived mostly in The Ritz hotel, where the Nazis had made their headquarters in Paris. She also took a senior Nazi party official, Hans Gunther von Dincklage, as her lover.
When the war came to an end, Chanel was arrested by the Committee For Public Morals. But she was soon released and never faced the punitive head shaving of other 'collaboratrices horizontales ' - or sexual collaborators. She escaped, it's thought, because of her connections with the Duke Of Westminster.
“The wartime period of Coco Channel's life reveals a lot about her character,' says the film's director, Hardy Capo. “Her troubled early life, including being left at an orphanage by her father, had turned her into a survivor. However, this made her so hard-nosed that she was either unaware, or didn't care, what other people thought of her actions during the war.”
Does this make her any less of a genius? “She revolutionised women's clothing. Freed them from corsets. But I don't believe we should forget her activities during the war. It's a cautionary tale of how expediency can lead you down a rocky, amoral road.”
Chanel had to leave France for Switzerland after the war and didn't return till 1954. Following poor reviews for her first collection after her homecoming, it was only the demand for her clothes in the United States that saved her business.
The other films released this year are 'Coco Before Chanel', starring the face of Chanel, Audrey Tautou, This movie features the early life of Coco Chanel. And there's 'Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky', a film part-fact, part-fiction, about the affair between the designer and the composer.
“CHANEL untold” CREDITS
Coco Chanel....... Simone Schleu
Officer Schwarz........Jorge Campos
Hans Gunther von Dincklage..... Hardy Capo
Written & Directed by....... Hardy Capo
Produced by Callous Productions.
www.callousproductions.com
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
