Chris Connor reviews the sixth episode of The New Look…
The New Look has at times struggled for focus in its first season with the focus on the rise of Christian Dior and the fall of Coco Chanel. The sixth episode seems to find more of a balance giving both storylines a prominent focus with a slightly shorter runtime. The episode sees Christian coming to terms with Catherine’s return following her incarceration during the war, this offers some of Maisie Williams’s most impressive work post-Game of Thrones as she clearly is clearly struggling with PTSD, struggling to discern reality from the memories of her captivity.
Ben Mendelsohn continues to impress as Christian who is focused on helping Catherine recover but also being given some lucrative offers for his designs with his star clearly on the rise. The smaller intimate focus, largely confined to his Paris apartment works and helps magnify the importance of the relationship to Catherine, who went to become the president of the Dior Foundation until her death in 2008.
This episode also allows Juliette Binoche more opportunities to shine as Coco who is disgruntled over her designs being stolen by Pierre and Paul Wertheimer, who were previously her business partners. This culminates in a confrontation at a party in the hotel she is staying at that she is not invited to. There is a sense of angst about her throughout as she is lacking in money and feels the world is against her. We also see the return of Emily Mortimer’s Elsa Lombardi who feels Coco owes her for earlier events in Madrid.
The performances here and tighter focus help elevate this above previous episodes of the show to date allowing the fine cast to take centre stage and show the contrasting fortunes of the two icons of the fashion industry. It is a shame the series has fluctuated quality-wise and lacked a tighter focus, telling quite a sprawling story. We can hope that the greater emphasis on character and performance and less soap opera dramatics will help the show stick the landing and pave the way for its in- development second season.
Chris Connor
