20th Sep2013

Mademoiselle C – Film

by timbaros

images-31-300x105

Not quite The September Issue, not quite Diana Vreeland: The Eye has to travel, Mademoiselle C is a new documentary all about and only about former editor of Paris Vogue and fashion stylist Carine Roitfeld.

Reading like a love letter to herself, (I am so beautiful, I have the perfect family, I am so popular and I am so wonderful) Mademoiselle C, directed by  her friend and former collaborator Fabien Constant, tracks Carine’s decision to leave Vogue and to produce her own magazine which, as we see in the film, is called CR Fashion Book (named after herself, of course). Much like The September Issue, the 2009 documentary which chronicled Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour’s production of her 2007 huge fashion issue, Mademoiselle C chronicles Roitfeld’s journey from inception to production to completion of the first issue of her own fashion magazine, which came out in September 2012, just in time for the fashion shows in New York, London and Milan. With a staff that practically worships the ground she walks on, through much pressure, and with the magazine getting bigger and bigger and almost out of control, more money is needed. But does Carine Roitfeld sweat about any of this? As we see in the documentary, she doesn’t have to. She is surrounded by the most rich and famous people in the fashion world. We see Karl Lagerfeld, Tom Ford, famous photographer Bruce Weber, Donatella Versace, Kanye West, and even Sarah Jessica Parker all singing her praises. Actually, no one says a bad thing about her at all. Can she really be that special and well-loved and perfect?

More self-indulgent stuff comes later in the documentary when we meet her family. Director Constant makes sure that they are shown as Carine’s special and beautiful children, how glamorous they are, just like their mother. Her daughter, Julia, who happens to be pregnant during the filming, is expected to give birth to a future model, while her son, Vladimir, uncomfortably calls his mom a MILF. We see more of Carine, throwing back her hair, going to glamorous fashion shows and parties, and living the life that she thinks she deserves. There are also photo shoots galore in this documentary, and her ideas for some of the photo shoots are quite bizarre (a nude model in a cemetery is all too creepy and inappropriate).

Mademoiselle C would’ve worked better if the director was a neutral choice, and not a friend of the family. For what it is, Mademoiselle C is only for true fashionistas, people who know their Coco from their Karl, who know their Anna from their Vera. If there was any movie that felt like a promotional video for it’s main star, then this one is it. Who is Mademoiselle C? After seeing this documentary, you kind of wish you didn’t know.