Couture does so much more than highlight Angelina Jolie as compelling screen presence. Written and directed by Alice Winocour, best known for Proxima featuring Eva Green, Couture rests squarely on the shoulders of this Hollywood icon. Within the skin of filmmaker Maxine Walker, Winocour’s camera captures everything about Jolie that remains enigmatic, adding an allure to Couture that transcends the mystique of Paris fashion week. Using the billion-dollar industry event as a backdrop to something more vital about the human condition.
Alice Winocour has layered interlinking stories throughout her film, exploring different experiences through the eyes of three women each with a unique perspective. Although Angelina Jolie garners the most screentime as Maxine, there are notable contributions from Garance Marillier and Ella Rumpf, best known from Julia Ducournau’s Raw. Itself a provocative exploration of female identity and adolescence, which shares similarities with Couture, if only in subject matter.
At the core of Couture is an exploration of identity against the backdrop of an industry defined through superficiality. It is a deeply intimate journey that charts the evolution of Ada as a first-time catwalk model, Christine as a struggling make-up artist, and Maxine an enigmatic writer-director. Winocour is observational, non-judgemental, and subtly inclusive in her style of filmmaking. Giving Couture a naturalistic feel that leans towards arthouse highlighting this as a character-driven piece.
Image Courtesy of Signature Entertainment
An ability to touch on universal themes within the story will draw audiences in and makes these women feel authentic, even if they inhabit a world which is unobtainable. As the shifting sands of this story unfold, and each of the trio come up against their own insurmountable odds, Couture never caves in to convention, and Winocour sticks to her guns as a storyteller. Capturing the repercussions in quiet character moments as these interlinking stories overlap.
If there is a criticism to be levelled at Couture it would be that Ada and Christine barely get any screen time. As Maxine’s story gains momentum these supporting players are almost reduced to window dressing, and their compelling stories that gave Couture so much substance become an afterthought. For many that relegation may go by unnoticed, since Jolie is such a bewitching presence in character, but nonetheless that oversight may leave a mark for some.
As both a producer and lead on this project, there was clearly something that attracted Jolie to the character of Maxine she considered cathartic. An opportunity to purge something deeply personal in a creative way and come out the other side renewed. Although comparisons to her very public problems are thinly veiled, Couture never feels like a tub-thumping exercise. There are no cinematic shots being fired and the story being told is optimistic.
If anything, Couture acts as a reminder to audiences who may have missed her turn as Maria Callas for Pablo Lorrain, that this is an actor who still has an Oscar-winning air about her. Someone who possesses all the mystique of a golden age Hollywood icon, despite the cultural of celebrity that has evolved around her. In many ways, that pre-possession and public awareness elevates Couture, feeding into a performance reflective of the self-awareness essential to surviving in this industry.
Couture is available on digital download from April 20th.