COUTURE

(director/writer: Alice Winocour; cinematographer: André Chemetoff; editors: Julien Lacheray, Lilian Corbeille; music: Anna von Hausswolff; cast: Angelina Jolie (Maxine Walker), Anyier Anei (Ada), Louis Garrrel (cinematographer), Ella Rumpf (Angele), Garance Marillier (Christine seamstress), Vincent Lindon (French Doctor), Anyier Anei (Ada); Runtime: 106; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Charles Gillibert, Zhang Xin, William Horberg, Angelina Jolie; GC Cinema; 2025)

“The drama is inconsequential and dull.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A shallow low-key drama set during a week of an upcoming Paris fashion runway show. It’s written and directed by the Paris-born French filmmaker Alice Winocour (“Disorder”/ “Mustang”).


The American 40something indie horror film director Maxine Walker (Angelina Jolie) takes an assignment from an unnamed fashion house (thought to be Chanel) to do a short promotional video on the fashion business in Paris, while she also prepares for her next horror film with her cinematographer (Louis Garcomes). Maxine’s going through some tough times due to an ongoing divorce, not getting along with her daughter, and diagnosed with breast cancer (which also happened to her in real life).

At the Paris Fashion show Maxine gets involved with Ada (Anyier Anei), the 18-year-old South Sudan pharmacy student who comes here by way of Nigeria because of a civil war in her native country. The unworldly new model is chosen to star in Maxine’s promotional video.  There’s also a 30something veteran makeup artist named Angela (Ella Rumpf), who is writing a novel about her experiences in the fashion world. The ladies in the fashion world are looking for a meaningful way to deal with their superficial world, and they make a connection with the sympathetic Maxine. Also connecting with Maxine is the young seamstress elegantly played by Garance Marillier, whose first creation for the show is an intricate special white dress.

All the clamor and glamor around the popular event results in interconnecting stories among the ladies.

But the drama is inconsequential and dull. I didn’t think the fashion world could be this dull.

The fabric of Couture’s story is cut from the same cloth as Robert Altman’s well-suited “Ready to Wear” (1994), but without the same fit.

It played at the Toronto Film Festival.

REVIEWED ON 10/1/2025  GRADE: C
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