Couture

Anchored by a memorable star turn from Oscar winner Angelina Jolie’s French-speaking performance, the latest from writer-director Alice Winocour — last at the Festival with 2022’s Paris Memories — is a compelling new film , set in the Parisian fashion industry, that weaves together multiple threads in which women of different ages and cultural backgrounds seek to wrest control of their destinies.

Maxine (Jolie), an American film director, arrives in Paris to helm a video for a fashion event. Maxine thinks fashion is “useless and unnecessary,” but the opportunity is lucrative and she has financial burdens. She is in the midst of a divorce, has a teenage daughter, and is preparing her next feature film. But her tightly ordered life is about to unravel as Maxine is given a serious medical diagnosis.

Maxine’s personal crisis intersects with two other women she encounters at her job: Angèle (Ella Rumpf), a veteran makeup artist writing a work of fiction based on her own experiences in the industry, and Ada (Anyier Anei), an 18-year-old pharmacy student from Nairobi who has just been “discovered” as a model and navigating a brand-new world. Each is confronted with choices small and significant, and must make life-changing career decisions.

Aside from its strong central performances, Couture benefits from a veritable who’s who of French cinema in supporting roles: Louis Garrel as Maxine’s cinematographer, Vincent Lindon as her doctor, and Aurore Clément as a fellow patient. Winocour balances the glamour of her film’s milieu with a cool gaze on how women’s bodies are measured, monetized, and represented. Couture has an elegant surface, but a subtle rebellion lies beneath.

ANITA LEE