Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky

By this point in MADSNESS we've had gangster Mads, villainous Mads, ripped Mads, prestige Mads, mentally ill Mads and compassionate Mads. COCO CHANEL & IGOR STRAVINSKY gives us artistic Mads.

Paris, 1920. Coco Chanel is at the height of her influence, having revolutionised fashion and become one of the most famous women in Europe. Across the city, the exiled Russian composer Igor Stravinsky is struggling to support his wife and four children after fleeing the Russian Revolution. When Chanel invites the Stravinsky family to live at her country estate, admiration gradually gives way to obsession, and a passionate affair begins that threatens to reshape both of their lives.

Based on Chris Greenhalgh's novel, the film imagines one of the twentieth century's great artistic relationships. It's less interested in confirming the historical record than exploring what happens when two fiercely ambitious people, each convinced of their own genius, collide at precisely the right moment in history.

Mads Mikkelsen's Stravinsky is brilliant, uncompromising and emotionally distant. Opposite Anna Mouglalis's equally formidable Chanel, he creates one of the most unusual romantic pairings of his career. Rather than asking whether their affair happened exactly as portrayed, the film asks a more interesting question: what do extraordinary artists owe to the people who love them?

Elegant, intelligent and impeccably designed, COCO CHANEL & IGOR STRAVINSKY is one of the most overlooked films in Mads Mikkelsen's filmography, and a reminder that some of his finest performances have come far from the worlds of crime, violence and Scandinavian noir.