Strong notices for Tautou in ‘Chanel’

2008’s slate of eventual Best Actress nominees may not have been the strongest of recent years, but it was certainly the most predetermined. Months before anyone had seen even a frame of their films,  it was accepted wisdom that Meryl Streep, Angelina Jolie and Kate Winslet (for something, at least) would be invited to the ball.

This unusual star-focused stranglehold (in an unusually crowded field) made it that much harder (and ultimately impossible) for critics’ darlings like Sally Hawkins or Kristin Scott Thomas to gain a slot.

This year, however, sees a return to the usual terrain of questionmarks in the field, with the usual regrettable paucity of female star vehicles on the horizon. (Only “Amelia” smells like Oscar catnip, and it smells a little funny to me.) Can Michelle Pfeiffer and Meryl Streep score veteran nods for comedy vehicles? Could either Gabourey Sidibe or Saoirse Ronan become only the second teenaged nominee in the category’s history? Which film, if any, will turn out to be Helen Mirren’s awards pony?

With the most early buzz centred on an ingenue few have yet heard of (that would be Carey Mulligan), it’s looking like a year of few sure things from a distance, which is the way I like it. (Of course, I could be completely wrong — I bow to certain other folks’ expertise in this field.)

So with the race so delicately poised at this early point, it’s interesting to see one of the few supposedly baity contenders passing the initial critical test. On paper, Audrey Tautou’s performance in “Coco Before Chanel” has a lot going for it. Nobody needs to be reminded of the Academy’s fondness for biopics (but just for the record, 7 of the last 10 Best Actress winners played real-life figures), and they aren’t exactly averse to pretty period pieces either.

Tautou, meanwhile, is both a familiar face and an adorable ingenue, even if it now 8 years since “Amelie” earned her the latter qualification. Not really famed for major dramatic chops, she also stands to benefit from the “wow, she can really act” vote — should the film register across the Atlantic, of course.

Indeed, the foreign-language issue is Tautou’s major debit at this point, but it’s less than two years since her compatriot Marion Cotillard proved that subtitles (not to mention an early release, and a less-than-beloved film) are not insurmountable once the performance takes hold. (Meanwhile, the likes of Catherine Deneuve and Catalina Sandino Moreno proved it’s easier to gain nods for foreign-language performances when the competition is either thin or scattered.)

I was sceptical that a portrait of the early days of France’s most iconic fashion designer would afford Tautou enough emotional heft, but a pair of trade reviews — heaping praise on both film and leading lady — suggest otherwise. The Hollywood Reporter predicts a major crossover success:

Spectacle, a love triangle, heritage settings, bravura acting, witty dialogue, a bittersweet finale: There’s something for everyone in Anne Fontaine’s “Coco Before Chanel,” and with the title providing name recognition to die for, her film appears set to storm multiplexes worldwide.

The love story is engagingly done, but Fontaine’s core interest is in showing how Coco becomes Chanel, in pointing out the markers along the path that led a penniless young woman, with no resources other than her inner strength, to become a key figure in shaping contemporary tastes in style and design … Tautou fully inhabits the role of Coco, her face a mask as if her character has yet to determine which identity she is to assume, sexually as much as socially.

Screen International is in complete agreement, and commends Tautou for successfully playing against type:

Bearing a striking resemblance to the real woman, Tautou communicates Chanel’s emancipated, fearless approach to life and her steely resolve (she barely cracks a smile during the first hour), while letting subtle layers of hurt, humiliation and grief show through her pride.

All told, with Sony Pictures Classics waiting until autumn to unroll the film Stateside, it seems this may be one to watch in multiple fields. The film sounds tailored for costume design consideration, while workaholic Alexandre Desplat contributed the score.

Best Foreign Language Film is harder to get a read on. The French have strayed from the obvious when selecting their submissions in recent years, and haven’t exactly been rewarded for their initiative: I still think “La Vie en Rose” and “I’ve Loved You So Long” would have stood a better chance with Academy voters than, respectively, “Persepolis” and “The Class” — however deserving the latter choices were. If the French selectors decide to play it safe this year, it sounds like they may have a formidable contender on their hands here.