Couture

It seems that in most countries, a job is just a job. In others, like the United States, your job can define who you are. In many cases, your life revolves around work, and any personal obstacles have to wait because, well, you have to work.

I think about this because there have been plenty of times when I’ve been sick or injured and still gone into work. I didn’t want to burn a vacation day, and I certainly didn’t want to fall behind. That’s not exactly what Alice Winocour’s new film Couture is about, but there’s something in it that that made me think about this mindset. Thankfully, there’s a lot more going on here than just work.

In Paris for a major fashion show, filmmaker Maxine Walker (Angelina Jolie) has arrived to document the event. Life is already a little chaotic for her as she navigates a divorce, but things become even more complicated when she receives a call from her doctor regarding the results of some medical tests. Unable to return home, she’s referred to a local doctor in Paris.

At the same time, Ada (Anyier Anei) is preparing for her first major runway show after recently being discovered as a model. She’s trying to find her footing in the overwhelming machine that is the fashion industry. Also crossing paths with both Ada and Maxine is Angèle (Ella Rumpf), a makeup artist who spends her downtime documenting her experiences in what often feels like a toxic and abusive industry.

Each woman is dealing with her own fears and uncertainties, but Maxine’s situation becomes the most urgent when she learns she has breast cancer in the middle of it all. As the fashion show unfolds, all three women are forced to confront difficult truths about themselves and make choices that could alter the course of their lives.

Written and directed by Alice Winocour, Couture weaves together the stories of its three central characters with an elegant and fluid touch. The glamorous world of high fashion serves as both a dreamscape and a warning, showcasing not only the beauty and aspiration of the industry but also its darker underbelly. Winocour invites us into the hearts and minds of these women while immersing us in the dreamy atmosphere of Paris and the fashion world itself.

Couture shines brightest when it prioritizes mood and atmosphere over straightforward storytelling. There’s an almost poetic quality to many of its images, and Winocour often creates moments that feel more like visual impressions than traditional scenes.

However, for as beautiful as the film is, its greatest weakness is a lack of depth. Despite juggling three storylines, it never digs deeply enough into Ada’s or Angèle’s experiences to make their struggles resonate as strongly as Maxine’s. As a result, the film sometimes feels emotionally lopsided.

That said, this may be one of Angelina Jolie’s finest performances. She plays Maxine with a disarming vulnerability and restraint that makes the character feel remarkably real. It’s a raw, understated performance that quietly carries much of the film’s emotional weight.

Jolie’s work, combined with Winocour’s striking use of sound and editing, creates several moments that are genuinely hypnotic. There are stretches of Couture that put you in a near trance, making up for some of the areas where the narrative falls short.

While you might expect Maxine’s story to serve as the clear centerpiece, the film never quite finds a way to fully connect its three narratives into a cohesive whole. The result is a movie filled with compelling individual moments that don’t always come together as effectively as they should.

Ultimately, I found Couture to be an earnest and often stunning film. It contains plenty of memorable scenes and visual flourishes, and Jolie’s performance alone makes it worth seeing. But while those moments linger in your mind, the film itself never quite reaches the heights it seems capable of. Couture is beautiful to look at and occasionally mesmerizing, but it remains just shy of becoming something truly special.

Brian Taylor

Member of the North Texas Film Critics Association, and lover of all things Cinema