At the same time as Anne Fontaine’s biopic Coco Before Chanel went into production, Jan Kounen was developing his own version of the fashion icon’s story. Picking up where last year’s box office smash left off, Kounen’s film concentrates on the affair between two iconoclastic figures of their day – Coco Chanel and the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky.

Although the public rioted at the disastrous premiere of Stravinsky’s controversial "The Rite of Spring" in 1913, his work certainly made a positive impression on one person, a young Coco Chanel. A decade later, the now successful Coco (Anna Mouglalis) invites the genius Stravinsky (Mads Mikkelsen), living in squalid exile with his wife and family, to move into her country estate. The affair which ensued would shape both their lives and careers forever.

The screenplay (from Chris Greenhalgh's novel) concentrates almost exclusively on the illicit relationship; music and fashion provide the context. Mouglalis plays Coco as a strong but hardened woman, shaped as much by her personal failures as her business success. Mikkelsen (last seen at DCA in Valhalla Rising), who learnt both French and Russian for the role, is suitably intense. The most poignant performance however is from Yelena Morozova, who plays Stravinsky's ailing wife Catherine, forced to tolerate the affair while living under the same roof.