French director JanKounen restages the event with great emotional accuracy. The Russian composer’smusic sounded savage and rhythmic to Western ears and Diaghilev’s dancershurled a shamanistic rite into the face of polite society. It’s as if a rockconcert had erupted in the afterglow of the Victorian age. Cocosits spellbound, wondering about the man who wrote such music.
Based on the novelby Chris Greenhalgh, whose plot was drawn from rumors of an affair between thefashion designer and the composer, CC& IS is a fascinating recreation of a time and place as well as studyin seduction, infidelity, obsession and guilt. Most of the story unfolds after1920, when Coco (Anna Mouglalis) is finallyintroduced to Igor (Mads Mikkelsen). By that time she is at the top of herfield as the inventor of the little black dress, and he is in squalid exilewith his family from a Russiathat fell to the Bolsheviks. She offers to shelter the Stravinskys in hercountry chateau; a proud man, he reluctantly accepts. They appraise each otherwith careful glances. Eventually, he sinks into the graceful folds of her body,grateful for her attention and a slave to his desire.
Mouglalis gives a memorablynuanced performance as Coco, capturing hererotic allure, independent nature and strict regime as a businesswoman. AsIgor, Mikkelsen is a photo of the composer come to life, stoic, intimidatingand slightly Oriental in visage. His wife, Katia, had always been his emotionalconstant, his helper and critic, yet his heart had gone cold from years offamily life. He finds Coco challenging,exciting, inspiring.
The brilliance of CC & IS has less to do with thelavish setting than its command of the cinematic medium. When Igor loses a gameof chess to his adolescent son, we know it’s because he’s thinking of Coco. When Katia hears Igor’s piano fall silent, hercloudy expression says she knows it’s because Cocohas put her arms around him. We don’t need long blocks of dialogue to explainthe emotions of the characters. We can see it on their faces.
As for The Rite of Spring, what’s remarkable acentury after its debutin a time when cultural advancement means the latestgadget at the Apple storeis that people cared enough about music and dance tostart a riot.
