The New Look
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Its impossible to imagine a world without the New Look.
Its current creative director, Maria Grazia Chiuri, is the first woman to take on the role.
Its also a series that dares to portray Gabrielle Coco Chanel as she was: a voluntary Nazi collaborator.
Always have, she says before talking shit about Dior, which the designer was known to do.
He knows he doesnt deserve his praise.
Diors ultrafeminine and theatrical aesthetic was antithetical to Chanels sporty, androgynous, casual-chic aesthetic.
Dior finally appears in front of the students.
All I ever wanted to do is design the most beautiful womens clothing that ever existed, he says.
Mendelsohn speaks as if hes had a French accent his whole life.
Seamlessly (pun intended), the show zooms back to 1943, three years into the Nazi occupation.
The woman runs away, leading the officers into a trap.
Her colleagues, fellow rebels, kill the officers.
Diors apartment is grand but dark and scarcely furnished and decorated, a sign of the times.
The only women wearing ball gowns in Paris in 1943 are the wives and girlfriends of Nazis.
The designers join Cristobal Balenciaga at a cafe to discuss the complications.
He insists that despite the rumors, Chanel vehemently refused to work with them.
Butwhy does she live at the Ritz?they wonder.
In contrast, Coco Chanels life under Nazi occupation is quite grand.
Last year, itreopened its doorsto the public.
If youmustknow, Barbra Streisand held apremiere party forYentlthere in 1984.
Today, Chanel is still privately owned by the Wertheimers, with headquarters in London.
Jean is captured and tortured by the Nazis, along with other students in the French Resistance.
If Dior doesnt go, Lelong worries there will be dire consequences.
Dior arrives at the ball.
Dior leaves the ball in a rush.
But its too late.
Catherine is captured by the Gestapo, and Jean and the students are executed by the Nazis.
At Sorbonne in 1955, Dior says, Thats all there is … the longing for survival.
For me, creationwassurvival.
In episode two, the Winston Churchill peace-negotiation mission adds Chanels former friend Elsa Lombardi into the mix.
A muppet energy, if you will (complimentary, of course).
The mission is a flop, and Elsa sees right through Chanel.
In this scene, Binoche brilliantly plays Chanels uninspiring punching down of her involvement.
She unconvincingly suggests ignorance.
Coco Chanel might be ignorant in some regard, but its willful.
This reflects Elsas assertion that her truest talent is believing your own story.
Catherine realizes the woman is French.
Im nothing now, she says.
The woman hopes that helping Catherine will save her in death, knowing her country will never forgive her.
Catherine listens and is put on a train to a camp in Germany.
But again, its too late.
Shes sent to Ravensbruck, a womens camp in Germany.
Dior weeps in Lelongs arms, and my Ben Mendelsohn Emmy campaign begins.
By episode three, the Allies are approaching Paris, which is in chaos.
Nazis prepare to leave, and the Resistance prepares for revenge.
Diors fight to find her continues.
The boyfriend, Franz, can make arrangements, but the bribe must be high for the risk.
Dior goes to Balenciaga, who cant offer much.
All that is left is a few bits of fabric, he says.
They share a chocolate bar, and Balenciaga attempts to lift his friends spirits.
His plan goes more smoothly than expected: Lelong catches him.
Instead of firing him, he offers more fabric.
But Franz is not satisfied with the fabric, despite Diors insistence on its value.
Chanel is equally desperate.
Ive done nothing, she says, once again denying her culpability to others and herself.
She meets Spatz where hes hiding at a convent.
They sleep together and make plans to meet and escape France together.
By the time the Resistance arrives to arrest him, hes gone.
Chanel is distraught: Shes still on the list but is more upset by Spatzs betrayal.
Dior visits Chanel in her suite at the Ritz.
Shes more broken down than ever.
He begs her to help him negotiate his sisters freedom.
He knows she has a contact.
Find a better dream, one that you’re free to fulfill, Chanel tells him.
Their pain one relatable and one painful to watch permeates.
No crumbs left by Binoche and Mendelsohn.
The next day, blue skies.
Outside a Chanel boutique, Coco Chanel throws bottles of Chanel No.
5 perfume to soldiers parading through the streets of Paris.
For your girlfriends and wives, she shouts as if shes innocent.
With the Nazi occupation over, whats next for Mr. (and Ms.) Dior?
Will there be consequences for Coco Chanel?
