"Coco avant Chanel" and "Amelia" are both mediocre. There are certain films that come with high expectations, such as "Coco avant Chanel" and "Amelia." Unfortunately, both are mediocre. These are larger than life figures, which should have translated into epic stories. But they're just... flat. The stories are almost running laterally, instead of having distinctive beginning, middle, ending, with dramatic apexes and valleys. Fame and glam, lush landscapes and costumes, decadent estates are enjoyable to look at, but not enough, as well as having the main actresses who resemble their real-life counterparts. In 'Chanel,' Audrrey Tautou looks the part, an aristocratic beauty with regal poise and understated elegance. In 'Amelia,' Hilary Swank looks the part of the tall, striking, short-cropped hair and freckle-faced, tomboyish Amelia with a feminine flair. With 'Chanel,' I wanted to see the dreams and desires, struggles and fights; a triumphant story behind a couture empire. Instead, it's more about the daily grind of life that goes through the motion and doesn't reveal much, tedious scenes after scenes that have no meaning or nothing to advance the story. The ending is rushed and unsatisfying. With 'Amelia,' I wanted to see the challenges, obstacles, adversity, tenacity before the rise to stardom, but the story literally skips major life stages and merely starts at the cusp of her being The "Amelia Earhart." The unconventional love story between Amelia and her publisher-husband is sweet, it shouldn't be at the expense of the life of this free-spirited adventurer, explorer, globe-trotter who daringly imagines and pushes the boundaries where no woman (or man) has gone before. Overall, they're both more of pretty pictures painted with brush strokes as opposed to painstakingly created masterpieces.
