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- Apple TV+
- Feb 13, 2024
- Apple TV+
- Feb 13, 2024
Summary Christian Dior's (Ben Mendelsohn) rise to the top and the subsequent decline of Coco Chanel's (Juliette Binoche) reign is the focus of the Todd A. Kessler Worl War II-era drama.
Created By: Todd A. Kessler
- Apple TV+
- Feb 13, 2024
- Apple TV+
- Feb 13, 2024
Summary Christian Dior's (Ben Mendelsohn) rise to the top and the subsequent decline of Coco Chanel's (Juliette Binoche) reign is the focus of the Todd A. Kessler Worl War II-era drama.
Created By: Todd A. Kessler
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Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 23 Critic Reviews
62
48% Positive
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
39% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
13% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 23 Critic Reviews
62
48% Positive
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
39% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
13% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
As it stands, The New Look is a series that successfully captures the utter horrors of war alongside the beauty of creation. The severity of one only emphasizes the gravity of the other. Together, they make something breathtaking, heartbreaking, and entirely worth watching.
She [Binoche] does succeed in making Coco, who is a moral bankrupt, eminently watchable, and Emily Mortimer as Elsa Lombardi—illegitimate child of English royalty, global house guest and, ultimately, a Coco victim—is also first-rate. Likewise Mr. Mendelsohn, a marvelous actor capable of being quite scary (see: "Animal Kingdom") but who makes Dior a character lovable in his anguish. .... This is the story of how creation helped return spirit and life to the world." By the end, you believe it.
I’m wondering if the material might have been better served with TWO full seasons, with the first focusing on the war years and the second providing a more detailed look at the aftermath, and the respective careers of Chanel and Dior and the houses they built. Still, this is a solid and substantial look at the power of creating hope by making something beautiful in the aftermath of a most horrible time.
The New Look lags and drags. It takes far too long to get its points across. When it finally does, it does so with not enough conviction. Instead of focusing on the fashion, which is in the title (The New Look was the name of Dior’s first collection when he set up his own house), the 10-episode series keeps forgetting what it’s about and reverts to being a Holocaust story.
Much of this 10-episode series is a rather dull and thinly written exploration of life in Nazi-occupied Paris.
It’s just that, as a whole, The New Look doesn’t amount to enough. You could see it as escapism, but that requires accommodation of the fact that the Holocaust is essentially written out of the story in favour of a rivalry over tulle.
The New Look is, in practice, a dull, morose, bafflingly executed trudge through Nazi-occupied France, as navigated by two of the most famous names in the history of fashion. The pace is sluggish and the characters thin. A-list actors and directors are wasted.
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