HAUTE COUTURE

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https://cineuropa.org/film/411492/

30/06/2022 until 14/07/2022

Haute Couture bears a resemblance to Devil Wears Prada, but only in they are both feature the fashion industry and based on real people. While the Meryl Streep classic focusses on the bitchiness of the fashion world, Haute Couture focusses on real people and their relationship with fashion.

The story centres on Esther, a “première d’atelier,” or head seamstress, who is preparing her last collection before retiring from a French fashion house. One day, she has her purse snatched by Jade, a young girl who is later filled with remorse and comes to return it. Against expectations, Esther offers her an apprenticeship, and the two women’s complex realities become intertwined.

What sets this film apart is the depth of detail explored in the dressmaking scenes. As a comparative outsider to ‘behind the scenes’ in the fashion industry I found myself drawn to this world where excellence is the accepted norm.

The insistence on washing hands before touching material, delicate silks, organzas, tulles and embroidery, while not foreign to me were fascinating. The care taken to ensure that each creation is perfect while de rigeur to the industry is commonplace in workshops.

As perfect as these scenes are, they would fail without exceptional acting. Nathalie Baye’s Ester, the designer on her way out, is fragile, broken and completely believable. Although seemingly as hard as nails there is a damaged woman underneath seeking to pass on her skills to a promising replacement daughter.

She is perfectly complimented by Lyna Khoudri’s Jade, a street girl who vacillates between her street life and attraction to an industry where she can find fulfilment. With a mother suffering from depression, another mother figure is perhaps too much until she delves deeper and sees a connection that bridges her home life and high fashion.

Other memorable performances include Soumaye  Bocoum’s Souad, Jade’s best friend who is not willing to share a friendship, Pascale Arbillot’s Catherine, Jade’s true mentor, Romain Brau’s Sephora, Jade’s cross-dressing friend  and Adam Bessa’s Abel, an up-and-coming designer who becomes Jade’s love and saviour.

Director Sylvie Ohayon and writer Sylvie Verheyde (along with Ohayon) are to be congratulated for directing a well-rounded film that is so much more than it appears from first glance, beautifully filmed with a sensitive score by Pascal Lengagne.

Haute Couture is more than an expose of the fashion industry, it is a film about relationships, loyalty, truth and passion for your calling and life!  

Reviewed by Barry Hill