The New Look

I really enjoyed this it has a real calming atmosphere which makes it engaging and interesting. I felt like it was able to give just enough depth without being overly complex. The cast were good and of course where everyone is speaking English with a French in Paris it will always be off putting. But I was captivated by the story and the characters.

It's not a period I was so familiar with but I found it engaging and interesting. The way it's shot felt intimate and gave it an intensity. Also the scenes and location's felt realistic and gave the show a sense of realism. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it.

Yes, ok, John malkovic. He's great, but will be almost uncastable in further roles requiring an accent.

Meanwhile Coco Chanel looks like a parody of Jennifer Sanders, and there's a bit of Brosnan in Spatz!

Asides from the character assasinations, the acting is good, the story fascinating, the period in Paris is complicated and attention to detail very good.

On the story... Dior is 'working for the Nazis' to survive, but supporting the resistance too. You do what you must.

Poor Coco is shown in a very bad light though, so far. I am only a few episodes in.

What shouldn't surprise me, but in fact angers me, is that society continues with it's money and privilege in the middle of war and occupation. I suppose it was ever thus. There is rarely justice, or karma, in war.

I'm liking the series - its quality.

I was apprehensive fur a reason after so many disappointing shows from Apple that had great cast, budget and concept but decided to do a great pilot followed by 8 episodes of side stories of little interest with a decent finale if you were lucky (For All Mankind, Foundation), this has all the production values actors but also a story that has momentum and does not feel like a slog/ getting through time wasting dialogue. Can't say how historically accurate but definitely interesting so far. Both Ben Mendelsohn and Juliette Binoche are great, sound design could be better, at some point just had subtitles instead of changing the volume all the time for too loud music/ too quiet dialogue game shows love to play.

Sumptuous exploration of Vichy Paris and the designers who inhabited it. I've known all my adult life that Coco Channel was a Nazi collaborator, but I did not know the story about Christian Dior, his sister in the resistance, or her time at a work camp. This all set during the Nazi's occupation, and final retreat from France, is produced so well, with such an excellent top tier cast, top tier directing, set design, writing, pace, just about everything about this show is excellent I'm very surprised to see it not doing better in the user reviews and ratings. In an era of reality TV drivel, this quality show is so needed.

Ben Mendelssohn and Juliette Binoche give fine believable performances in this series. As does Maisie Williams as Catherine the sister of Christian Dior. Maisie, is of course incredibly well-known from Game of Thrones. In this role she was so believable and her performance so subtle that initially I did not realise who the actress was and had assumed she was a young French actress chosen for the role. The production quality is impeccable with especially sumptuous locations. The serious is almost worth watching for that reason alone. But unfortunately this is all rather badly let down by a light treatment that too often lacks any convincing emotional intensity. As such it belongs more in the realm of escapism than the serious drama the (based on a true life) story of intense courage and love truly deserves.