With ‘The New Look,’ Juliette Binoche is looking to add an Emmy to her awards collection
Juliette Binoche has racked up a slew of awards for her film work, including both an Oscar and a BAFTA for her supporting turn in the historical drama “The English Patient.” Now she is in line to win an Emmy for her leading role in another historical epic — Apple TV’s “The New Look.”
In this acclaimed drama, she portrays the iconic French fashion designer Coco Chanel who is threatened by the up-and-coming Christian Dior (Ben Mendelsohn) in post-WWII Paris. Binoche delivers a complex, carefully curated performance that has been celebrated by critics as a shining light in this lush new series.
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Joyce Slaton (Common Sense Media) noted: “Juliette Binoche and Ben Mendelsohn are excellent in their roles as the conflicted Chanel and Dior, both of whom, history remembers, wound up collaborating with and/or designing for Nazi forces in Nazi-occupied France… Chanel is a more complicated figure, and yet Binoche is such a sympathetic actor that we understand, too, how she begins with the best of intentions and then makes choices that history doesn’t regard kindly.”
Phillip Macias (The New Republic) explained that the role is “a spectacular showcase for Binoche’s talent. Her Coco is always acting on the precipice of shrewd improvisation and panicked flailing.” Macias continued: “Chanel is the dramatic center of ‘The New Look,’ which ultimately rises and falls with Juliette Binoche’s titanic performance. It would be easy to play her as either a monster or a victim of circumstance. But Binoche is cagey and versatile enough to let her almost always be both… There is a tenderness to Binoche’s Chanel that belies both her expansive charisma and deadly defensiveness—a character fragile enough that she might shatter, but sharp enough to cut if she does.”
Josh Sharpe (Paste Magazine) observed: “In her performance, Binoche emphasizes the contradictions, selfishness, and complete impossibility of being Coco Chanel. She is self-centered, yet she cares deeply for her nephew, who is the only true family she has. Her constant battles are with herself, though she takes her frustrations out on everybody around her, including her lifelong confidant Elsa Lombardi (Emily Mortimer). Binoche’s nuanced performance alternates between making us root for her and hate her, sometimes within the same episode.”
Currently, our predicted six nominees for Best Drama Actress are Jennifer Aniston (“The Morning Show”), Imelda Staunton (“The Crown”), Emma Stone (“The Curse”), Carrie Coon (“The Gilded Age”), Reese Witherspoon (“The Morning Show”), and Maya Erskine (“Mr. and Mrs. Smith”). However, Binoche is right on the precipice in seventh place.
There are several reasons why you should back Binoche to break into this party.
Firstly, Binoche is a respected actress who has been working in the industry for decades, now. She’s a star on both sides of the Atlantic and is equally adept in comedies, dramas and thrillers. Plenty of veteran actresses of her ilk have found their first nominations in the Best Drama Actress category, including Robin Wright (“House of Cards”), Viola Davis (“How to Get Away with Murder”), and Frances Conroy (“Six Feet Under”).
Binoche is also an Oscar winner. This status goes a long way with the TV academy. Oscar winners who have been nominated in this category include Davis (“How to Get Away with Murder”), Olivia Colman (“The Crown”), Witherspoon (“The Morning Show”), Kathy Bates (“Harry’s Law”), Holly Hunter (“Saving Grace”), and Sally Field (“Brothers & Sisters”).
Binoche and Mendelsohn make a terrific on-screen duo and their characters’ complex relationship is the bread and meat of the drama. We are expecting Mendelsohn to be nominated for Best Drama Actor, which will help Binoche’s chances of a nomination here, too, as Emmy voters like nominating pairs of leading players. Among the duos that both reaped bids: Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us”), Laura Linney and Jason Bateman (“Ozark”), Claire Foy and Matt Smith (“The Crown”), and Wright and Kevin Spacey (“House of Cards”).
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