The world of fashion is attractive for television, but the creators of the film "The New Look" about the origins of Dior and Chanel show that behind the shiny facade there were dark moral challenges.
Fashion dramas are a hot trend right now.
Disney Plus is already showing "Balenciaga" and will soon release "Kaiser Karl," a lavish series about Karl Lagerfeld that joins the glut of movies like "House of Gucci," "Saint Laurent," "Phantom Thread" and "Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris".
For those unfamiliar with the history of French fashion, "The New Look," airing on Apple TV, may seem like a dark addition to the genre.
The film focuses on Christian Dior and Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, played by Ben Mendelssohn and Juliette Binoche, and follows the dark years of the Nazi occupation of Paris.
Chanel's conduct during the war has been a constant source of debate among historians, with many accusing her of collaboration.
When the Nazis take power, she closes her business, but continues to live in luxury at the Ritz Hotel, takes a German officer as her lover, and uses anti-Jewish laws to try to wrest control of her company from Jewish business partners.
"It's easy to believe that he would have done the right thing in this situation, but these characters were terrified for their lives and I think it's very difficult to judge them," producer Todd Kessler told AFP.
"Dior, Chanel, Balenciaga, Balmain - all these people were making decisions about how to possibly survive," he added.
"Maybe the audience will feel one way about a character in the middle of an episode and feel a completely different way at the end. But that's what inspires storytellers."
The filmmakers admit they were nervous about approaching Binoche to play Chanel.
"We wanted a French icon to play a French icon, but we didn't know how a French actor would react given France's mixed feelings about Chanel," says co-producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. "It was very gratifying how quickly Juliet accepted her."
Meanwhile, Dior suffers from the shock of his sister being taken to a concentration camp, but his "New Look" designs become a symbol of France's sense of recovery and hope after the war.
"It's a very beautiful, ambitious series about fashion," says Pierre Gropeau, Vanity Fair's head of lifestyle.
"It gives an image of Dior that we don't have. We imagine him as a genius in his workshop. Many people don't know this painful story that he, like many other people, lived through".
He found Binoche's "subtle" performance particularly compelling.
Chanel "certainly made decisions that weren't always right, but don't forget that this was a woman, alone, from a very humble background. We feel like someone is overwhelmed by events.
"I'm looking forward to a second season where we'll see her return." /BGNES