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Coco Chanel Unbuttoned is a documentary exploring the ultimate fashion legend reflecting the story of the 20th century.
The screening of the film will be followed by a Q&A with the film director, Hannah Berryman, hosted by journalist and writer Davina Catt.
COCO CHANEL UNBUTTONED
dir: Hannah Berryman
with Sophie Marceau, Jerry and Georgia Hall, Caroline de Maigret, Justine Picardie, Jackie Rogers
UK | 2023 | 89 min | Screening courtesy of Whynow
This compelling documentary weaves together the truth of Coco Chanel and her work in the closest we have to her own words, based on a series of intimate interviews with her biographer Paul Morand, and voiced by La Boum and Braveheart actress Sophie Marceau. With exquisite animation and unprecedented access to the House of Chanel archives, never before has a film managed to get to the heart of her enduring legacy like this one.
Coco Chanel started a fashion revolution inspired by her own trailblazing and radical appetite for independence – in her own words “I’m not a heroine, but I have chosen the person I wanted to be”. She liberated women from heavy, corseted clothes, giving them freedom to work, move and celebrate themselves. In a male-dominated world, she was rewarded with unrivalled wealth, recognition and celebrity, counting everyone from Winston Churchill to Cecil Beaton as friends.
But despite her triumph, Coco remained an enigma. Until her death in 1971 at the age of 87, she veiled the truth of her poor childhood growing up in an orphanage, her early years as a kept mistress and her sense of being a perpetual outsider.
Credit: RMN – Photo Roger Schall © Collection Schall
ABOUT HANNAH BERRYMAN
Hannah Berryman specialises in bringing past tense narratives into the here & now. Her documentaries focus on history and the arts, most recently the BBC2 documentary looking at the seminal feminist protest and social and political struggles surrounding the ‘Miss World 1970’ contest; other films include BAFTA shortlisted The Brick in the Wall Kids, Grierson nominated High Society Brides and shortlisted Princess Margaret: The Rebel Royal and A Very English Education for the BBC; and Rose D’Or Arts nominated film with dancer Akram Khan Can We Live with Robots.
Hannah had a burning ambition to make documentaries from her childhood spent perched on a kitchen stool watching everything from ‘7 Up’ to 9 hour long ‘Shoah’ – it was her window into the lives of others. She has made nearly 20 television documentaries, mainly for the BBC, many with an historical and arts bent, always finding out how people’s lives turn out. ‘The Brick In The Wall Kids’, shortlisted for BAFTA, followed up on the famous Pink Floyd record with Roger Waters and the kids who sung, to find out about much more than a song – about the lives of the inner city London kids and the education they were getting. The Grierson nominated and highly commended award winning ‘High Society Brides’ looked at what happened to the women photographed as debutantes on the eve of their marriages. And the Grierson shortlisted A Very English Education looked at how the lives of boys from the upper end of the class spectrum turned out after their boarding school education, which was documented when they were children in a BBC 1980 series Public School. Taking an experimental dance journey with contemporary dancer Akram Khan into how our lives might be in a world of A1 in Can We Live With Robots garnered her a nomination for best European Arts Film in the Rose D’Or awards last year. This year’s BBC2 documentary Miss World 1970: Beauty Queens & Bedlam followed up on the people taking part in and protesting the 1970 Miss World contest, a pivotal moment for feminist struggle and race poitics. And her 2-part series last year for the BBC on Princess Margaret took a critically acclaimed immersive look at the life of the rebel royal and her changing times, through the words of those closest to her and rare archive, and got the highest BBC2 audiences of the year with it.
ABOUT DAVINA CATT
Davina is a journalist, writer, director.
Davina writes for leading publications including Vogue UK and International editions, Financial Times, as well as being contributing editor at new biannual title, Violet, alongside internationally recognised actors/scriptwriters. Davina is regularly asked to conduct talks and be part of panels at venues from BAFTA, V&A to Conde Nast college, including recently an in conversation event with legendary sixties model, muse and actress, Pattie Boyd.
Davina has taken her experience with writing, narrative and film to write and direct an arts based documentary, which was screened across Curzon cinemas.
She has also appeared in campaigns for designers such as Lara Bohinc MBE, been photographed by globally recognised names from Rankin to Mike Figgis, and her body of work has been featured in titles including Vogue Italia, Tatler, Harpers Bazaar UK, American Elle.
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