The New Look

Sumptuous exploration of Vichy Paris and the designers who inhabited it. I've known all my adult life that Coco Channel was a Nazi collaborator, but I did not know the story about Christian Dior, his sister in the resistance, or her time at a work camp. This all set during the Nazi's occupation, and final retreat from France, is produced so well, with such an excellent top tier cast, top tier directing, set design, writing, pace, just about everything about this show is excellent I'm very surprised to see it not doing better in the user reviews and ratings. In an era of reality TV drivel, this quality show is so needed.

This series gives an insight into a little explored era - the French occupation, the tug of self preservation, the desire to fight the oppression of the Nazis and the development of the haute couture designers whose brands eventually came to dominate our lives for the next 70 years. I have found it riveting. Yes, it is flawed, mainly I feel because it is covering complex pressures and it is impossible to do more than scratch the surface. The series, if one can stop being critical of superficial accents for one minute, forces one to think about what that occupation did (and the parallels we must recognise today in Ukraine). This series draws you through the rich tapestry of life, emotion, selfishness, greed, heroism, sacrifice, love, homosexuality and mostly addresses for me the very "Frenchness" of all these - yes yes, only touched upon. But sufficient for this staid Brit to want to know more. I really can't cope with the continual criticism of accents (in case you hadn't guessed). Non Europeans (especially Americans) find it difficult to face sub titles and foreign languages, and so the film makers have to compromise and decided it should all be in English, but they also have to remind viewers that this is set in a foreign country hence the attempt at accents. I think this was carried out in an inoffensive way and the plus side is that they necessarily widened their audience to those who really should watch this topic and be inspired to learn more. Although a bit disjointed - Paris and Europe was disjointed at the time - people had to make split second decisions or lose their life or livelihood. So we are treated to the roller coaster that it was - and I think that the production is well paced considering all that they had to cover by nuance and by dwelling on the points sometimes for what seems like an age. I particularly applaud the treatment of the gradual awareness of the retreat of the Nazis, the pursuit of collaborators, the depiction of Ravensbruck, the return of the few and the pressure of relatives to seek out their loved ones. I loved John Malkovich as Lelong as well as the other main and supporting characters. I forgive all the mangled French accents. I now want to know more which is what a good series should want to achieve.

Yes, ok, John malkovic. He's great, but will be almost uncastable in further roles requiring an accent.

Meanwhile Coco Chanel looks like a parody of Jennifer Sanders, and there's a bit of Brosnan in Spatz!

Asides from the character assasinations, the acting is good, the story fascinating, the period in Paris is complicated and attention to detail very good.

On the story... Dior is 'working for the Nazis' to survive, but supporting the resistance too. You do what you must.

Poor Coco is shown in a very bad light though, so far. I am only a few episodes in.

What shouldn't surprise me, but in fact angers me, is that society continues with it's money and privilege in the middle of war and occupation. I suppose it was ever thus. There is rarely justice, or karma, in war.

I'm liking the series - its quality.

Ben Mendelssohn and Juliette Binoche give fine believable performances in this series. As does Maisie Williams as Catherine the sister of Christian Dior. Maisie, is of course incredibly well-known from Game of Thrones. In this role she was so believable and her performance so subtle that initially I did not realise who the actress was and had assumed she was a young French actress chosen for the role. The production quality is impeccable with especially sumptuous locations. The serious is almost worth watching for that reason alone. But unfortunately this is all rather badly let down by a light treatment that too often lacks any convincing emotional intensity. As such it belongs more in the realm of escapism than the serious drama the (based on a true life) story of intense courage and love truly deserves.

I don't understand the negative reviews-this series is riveting. Ben Mendelson is amazing as always. I didn't know about this piece of history and it makes for some edge of your seat viewing.

The rest of the cast is great as well, especially Juliette Binoche and John Malkovich. I've never seen Juliette Binoche play a villain before, and her character is genuinely menacing. It's also refreshing to see John Malkovich play a kind hearted person.

Anyone complaining about the accents is not focusing on the story itself, which is powerful, especially as it is based in truth. I give it a solid 9/10, drama for adults.