Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache

Directed and edited by Pamela B. Green and written by Green and Joan Simon with narration by Jodie Foster, Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache is a film about the life and career of one of cinema’s early pioneers who was also considered to be one of the first real auteurs who also owned and ran her own studio. The film showcases the woman’s career as well as the films she created as well as why she was often overlooked during her career and the re-discovery of her work. The result is an engrossing and wondrous film from Pamela B. Green.

In 1895, a secretary for engineer/industrialist Leon Gaumont attended a private screening of a film entitled Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory by Auguste and Louis Lumiere. The secretary that is Alice Guy saw a new medium as from 1896 to 1920, she made hundreds of films that would not just pioneer cinema as an art form but also would create techniques and ideas that would be the basis of cinema itself. Like the Lumiere Brothers, Georges Melies, and Edwin Porter, they would create short films that would showcase cinema’s tool in the world of storytelling yet it would be Guy that would take the format much further prompting others including Melies to step up their game. In 1907, Guy married Englishman Herbert Blache as he would be Gaumont’s production manager in the U.S. until 1910 when she and Blache formed the Solax Company to make their own films as she would use the slogan “be natural” to those who worked at the studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

One of Guy-Blache’s innovations in filmmaking was the creation of the Gaumont Chronophone system that allowed her actors to lip-sync to pre-recorded music and use the music to sync up to the film footage as it was the early ideas of sound heard in film. Guy was also ambitious as she made a 25-part series of shorts relating to Jesus Christ as it was quite bold for its time. Another form of innovation that she did during her time in New Jersey was make a film with an entirely black cast in A Fool and His Money as it was made because white actors didn’t want to work with black actors prompting Guy-Blache to just hire an all-black cast regardless of prejudice. She also made films that had gender roles reversed as well as tackle subject matters that not many were willing to go into.

Then came World War I as business started to hurt Guy-Blache’s studio but also this emergence of businessmen wanting to take over the world of cinema including Thomas Edison prompting many studios to move to California rather than work with Edison who wanted to have a lot of control on the world of film through his own equipment and such. Herbert Blache would also move to California due to his affairs with other women leading to the two to divorce in 1922 as she returned to France with their children never making films again. Especially as she wouldn’t receive the proper credit for her work with Gaumont becoming more of a businessman in running his own studio as things would get tougher during the Great Depression and World War II though Gaumont would try to rectify his faults in giving her proper credit despite people around him telling him not to.

The documentary also has Pamela B. Green who also serves as the film’s editor not just trying to find out more about Guy-Blache and her films but also asking many other filmmakers, historians, actors, and such including Julie Taymor, Peter Bogdanovich, Evan Rachel Wood, Ava Duvernay, Peter Farrelly, Andy Samberg, Julie Delpy, Lake Bell, Gillian Armstrong, cinematographer John Bailey, and many others about Guy-Blache as many of them admit to never having heard of her. There is also the story of Green not just trying to find information about her films and her life but also meeting those who knew someone who knew Guy-Blache including descendants of Guy-Blache such as her great-great granddaughter as well as descendants of Leon Gaumont as there’s a scene where the descendants of Guy-Blache and Gaumont would go to various locations where Guy-Blache made some of her films. Much of Green’s direction and editing is straightforward with a few montages of film archivists finding some of Guy-Blache’s work while also going into the difficulty of restoring her work.

The film also features archival interviews from Guy-Blache from the late 1950s and early 1960s with narration by Jodie Foster who reads some of Guy-Blache’s comments and letters with a rare audio interview between Guy-Blache and a film historian in Brussels who wonders why she isn’t credited for her work. Notably as historians dating back to the 1940s would often omit her as some claim there was a lot of resentment towards her because she was a woman as some even question the validity of her claims in the mid-1970s after she had died in 1968. It would be Guy-Blache’s daughter Simone and other historians that would keep Guy-Blache’s name alive while Green would also talk to relatives who found old letters, photos, and notebooks that lead to many clues that show proof of Guy-Blache’s claims. Upon discovering the shorts of Guy-Blache, cinematographer John Bailey and others at the Academy Arts and Science would try to recreate one of her shorts with comedy actors Chris Kattan and Horatio Sanz with the same camera that Guy-Blache used.

Sound editors Casey Langfelder and Daniel Saxlid, along with sound designers Marcello Dubaz and Kent Sparling, do superb work in providing many of the audio archives from Guy-Blache’s interview with the Belgian film historian that his grandson had kept all of these years while also capturing all of the people who are interviewed for the film as they all talk about discovering Guy-Blache and her importance in film history. The film’s music by Peter G. Adams is terrific for its mixture of low-key electronic music and ambient pieces as it play into the search for Guy-Blache’s films and everything about her. Even as Green showcases old photos of the studio she created in New Jersey as well as visual recreation of the studio itself and where filming took place in the studio.

Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache is a phenomenal film from Pamela B. Green. It’s a film that anyone interested in film history or film itself must see as it not only does some correcting into some of the real stories about cinema’s birth but also in showcasing one of its pioneers and her innovative work. Especially as it showcases the woman’s work and her brief yet illustrious career that proved how influential she was. In the end, Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache is a sensational film from Pamela B. Green.

Related: The Short Films of Alice Guy-Blache Vol. 1

© thevoid99 2020

Coco Before Chanel

Directed by Anne Fontaine and co-written with Camille Fontaine, Coco avant Chanel (Coco Before Chanel) is the story of Coco Chanel’s early life and rise into becoming one of the top fashion designers in the world. Based on the book by Edmond Charles-Roux, the film is a bio-pic of Chanel that focuses on her early years where she starts out as an obscure seamstress and mistress into finding ideas that would revolutionize fashion. Starring Audrey Tautou as Coco Chanel, the film also stars Benoit Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola, Marie Gillain, and Emmanuelle Devos. Coco avant Chanel is an extraordinary yet gorgeous bio-pic from Anne Fontaine.

It’s 1918 as Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel and her sister Adrienne (Marie Gillain) are working at a bar singing songs as they meet a socialite named Etienne Balsan (Benoit Poelvoorde). While Gabrielle also works part time as a seamstress, she becomes friends with Balsan as they talk about ideas where she eventually becomes her mistress. When Adrienne reveals she’s getting married to another baron, Gabrielle decides to join Balsan at his countryside estate where Adrienne lives nearby. Though living at his home seemed fun, it eventually bores Gabrielle who is forced to entertain Balsan’s guests as she meets a vivacious stage actress in Emilienne d’Alencon (Emmanuelle Devos) and a young British businessman named Arthur “Boy” Capel (Alessandro Nivola.

While Coco starts to create designer hats that simplifies the look of the hats of the times, she begins to fall for Capel as he is amazed by the clothes she wears as well as her approach to fashion. With d’Alencon also impressed by the design of Coco’s hats, Coco begins to wonder about the world of fashion as she goes on a brief holiday with Capel to the beach where she gets some new ideas. Still frustrated with her time with Balsan, she decides to leave while learning that Capel is set to marry a woman for business reasons. Yet, Capel makes an offer to give her money to help start her own business as she leaves Balsan to go on her own. Just as she was starting to find success, tragedy would happen forcing Coco to find inspiration to become the icon of fashion design.

Most bio-pics would often go into a person’s life by creating dramatic interpretations into one’s life and see how they would rise, fall, and eventually redeem themselves. What Anne Fontaine and her-co writer Camille did is to simply focus on Coco Chanel’s early life before she became famous instead of focusing on her entire life. While with a lot of bio-pics, there are dramatic liberties that are used to advance the story. The script doesn’t go too much into that but rather see how this young woman who starts off being a mistress for a baron as she finds inspiration through what women are wearing.

Chanel is presented as this woman who is a rebellious figure of sorts in the way she deconstructs the idea of what women should wear. To her, the idea of wearing these lavish yet big dresses and hats filled with lots of accessories seems very silly. What Chanel does is strip all of that down. By wearing trousers, shoes with no heels, a hat with no accessories, a shirt, and underwear underneath with no corsets. All of it is Chanel’s idea to make a woman look and feel comfortable. The script really delves into Chanel’s approach to fashion while proving that through the love affairs that she goes through, it would make her become a woman of independence that would define her legacy. While she it doesn’t mean that she needs a man in her life, she does like the idea of having someone to be with and to support her. The Fontaines’ script is superb for the way it studies Chanel in the way she would develop from this orphaned mistress into the woman that she becomes.

Anne Fontaine’s direction is truly hypnotic for the way she frames many of the countryside scenes as well as keeping the film simple with any kind of melodrama. There is a much more controlled yet subtle approach to the direction as it’s all about Chanel taking in the posh world she surrounds herself in while being also a bit disgusted with it. Fontaine always has the camera moving but in a slow movement for Chanel to look at the people and its surroundings while showing how she would make these dresses. There is a simplicity to Fontaine’s direction that is very entrancing as well as maintaining an elegance that is very intoxicating to watch. Overall, Fontaine creates a solid yet enchanting film that doesn’t try to play to the conventions of the bio-pic genre.

Cinematographer Christophe Beaucarne does a great job with the film‘s lush yet exquisite cinematography that captures the beauty of the French countryside while heightening it with colorful lighting to enhance the look for its interior settings. Beaucarne also keep things simple for the scene at the beach as well as exterior shots in Paris to exemplify Chanel’s desire for simplicity. Editor Luc Barnier does an excellent job with the editing to maintain a pretty straightforward approach to pacing and cutting while using a few transitional fade-outs to help move the film quite seamlessly.

Production designer Olivier Radot does a fantastic job with the art direction from the look of the bars that Coco worked at to the Balsan estate that is very spacious and elegant that would give Coco a place to find her ideas. Costume designer Catherine Leterrier does an amazing job with the clothes the men wear to the lavish dresses the women wear circa-1913. Yet, it would be the clothes that Chanel would wear that proves to be inspiring as it would be the prototypes for the clothes that would define her and women’s fashion in the years to come. Makeup and hair designers Thi Thanh Tu Nguyen and Jane Milon do a brilliant job with the hair and makeup that the women wear from big hair that d‘Alencon sports to the more simple look of Chanel that would become the modern look.

Sound editor Jean-Claude Laureux does a fine job with the sound work to capture the intimacy of the Balsan estate as well as the raucous party scenes that goes on throughout portions of the film. The film’s score by Alexandre Desplat is magnificent for its sweeping yet delicate orchestral arrangements that is filled with somber piano pieces to more dream-like pieces to play up to Chanel’s own rising interest in the world around her. Notably as Desplat also creates pieces to bring energy to Chanel in the creation of the clothes that she would make for what is definitely a marvelous score

The casting by Antonia Dauphin is wonderful as it features a couple of small appearances from Lisa Cohen and Ines Bessalem in the respective young roles of Gabrielle and Adrienne Chanel. Other small but noteworthy performances include Marie Gillain as Coco’s supportive sister Adrienne and Emmanuelle Devos as the vivacious Emilienne d’Alencon. Alessandro Nivola is excellent as the charming yet quiet Boy Capel while Benoit Poelvoorde is great as the fun though lazy Balsan. Finally, there’s Audrey Tautou in an outstanding performance as Coco Chanel. Tautou brings a wonderful mix of energy and restraint to a woman that is clearly very stubborn and determined to make it as a designer. Tautou also brings an elegance that is very engaging to watch for the way she looks as it she makes Chanel into an intriguing personality that is very human as it’s definitely one of Tautou’s finest performances.

Coco avant Chanel is an excellent yet beautiful film from Anne Fontaine featuring a radiant performance from Audrey Tautou as Coco Chanel. The film is definitely a bio-pic that strays from the conventions of the genre while allowing the audience to be invested into the development of Chanel’s early years before she became the icon of the fashion world. Fans of Audrey Tautou will get a chance to see the actress bring a lot of dramatic weight and discipline to a figure that is so revered as Chanel. In the end, Coco avant Chanel is an exquisite yet captivating film from Anne Fontaine.

Anne Fontaine Films: (Love Affairs Usually End Badly) - (Augustin) - L’@mour est a reinventer) - Nettoyage a sec) - (Augustin, King of Kung-Fu) - (Comment j’ai tue mon pere) - (Nathalie…) - (In His Hands) - (Nouvelle Chance) - (The Girl from Monaco) - (My Worst Nightmare)

© thevoid99 2011