“A Fashion Show is like a war machine,” is the statement made by one of the characters in the film Couture, directed by Alice Winocour. This proclamation defines not just an industry, but our time, when people are defined by the productivity in any work sector.
Maxine (Angelina Jolie), is an American filmmaker who arrives in Paris during the hustle and bustle of Fashion Week. She grows close to Anton (Louis Garrel), the cinematographer who is working on her fashion film, after getting unexpected news from a French doctor (Vincent Lindon). Meanwhile, her path intersects with that of other women. Ada (Anyier Anei) is an 18 year old who has arrived in Paris from Kenya to pursue a career as a model, although her true calling is pharmacy. Christine (Garance Marillier) is a young apprentice in the fashion workshop whose first solo creation will make it’s debut on the catwalk, as she dedicates night and day to perfecting her couture creation. Angèle (Ella Rumpf) is a make-up artist who aspires to be a writer and, inspired by Marguerite Duras, pens all that happens around her, in the hope that the right publisher will give her a chance. What these women share is how they are all all fighting to take control of their own destinies. Maxine above all will have to confront a burden she never saw coming and — as a mother of a teenage daughter and filmmaker who was finally obtaining the professional opportunity she had hustled for her entire life — she will be forced to rethink her priorities.
Couture marks a first in the history of cinema and fashion, since it’s the first fictional motion picture allowed to be shot inside Chanel’s Paris showroom and atelier. The glossy side of this world is set aside, as the film takes us behind the curtain, where hardships are rooted beyond the facade of glamour. Ada and one of her model colleagues have in common the fact they left warfare countries they called home. Those working on fashion shows — such as the fledgeling designer Christine and the make-up artist Angèle — present a life of dedication to work that can become overwhelming. This female perspective is undoubtably the result of how director Alice Winocour was given special access to the Chanel’s behind-the-scenes work, spending time with the seamstresses and other team members. She wanted to show a different side of the industry that usually focuses on male artistic directors.
Those who are familiar with Angelina Jolie’s family history, will inevitably connect some traits of Maxine to her mother Marcheline Bertrand. The actress of French descent lost her battle against ovarian and breast cancer, which lead Angelina Jolie to undergo a double preventative mastectomy and remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes after testing positive for the mutated BRCA1 gene. During the press events at the 2025 Toronto Film Festival, where the film had its premiere, Jolie underlined how Couture reminded audiences not to define people by an illness and the importance of connecting with others to share both grief and joy.
We live in the era of burnout, that isn’t caused by workload alone but also by the pressure of perfectionism. This form of self-imposed burden to overstrain ourselves, in the attempt to elevate our self-worth, has impacts on our well being. But one may question to what extent? Maxine’s character at one point voices out this dilemma by wondering: “Do you think we are responsible for what happens to us?” If John Lennon once sung that, “life is what happens to you, while you’re busy making other plans,” Couture brilliantly captures this by showing how an individual can build an existence in pursuit of certain dreams, and the unexpected can twist things around completely. Jolie’s empathetic style of acting, capable of stepping into any character’s shoes with authenticity and sensitivity, is utterly moving, without getting mushy. Also Ella Rumpf, Garance Marillier, Anyier Anei, present the life stories of their characters in a manner that is far from sentimental, but extremely relatable. The male actors, such as Louis Garrel and Vincent Lindon, leave the spotlight to the stories of the female characters, serving as valuable threads to weave together this cinematic tapestry of resilience.
Couture uses the fashion world as a stage to narrate the human capacity to endure adversity and keep moving forward.
Final Grade: B+
Photos credits: IMDb