There’s a Coco Mademoiselle commercial that still reverberates in the imagination of style setters on multiple continents. Vanessa Paradis is swinging in a birdcage during a short spot made in 1992 by Jean-Paul Goude. Even the current face of the Chanel fragrance, Keira Knightley, cites that shoot as the first visual that came to mind when she was offered the chance to represent the scent. But Knightley herself has also created some very memorable scenes that are synonymous with the scent. A girl in a Chanel jumpsuit riding a motorbike through the streets of Paris comes to mind. Now Knightley is the subject of the third in a series of Coco Mademoiselle commercials directed by filmmaker Joe Wright. She continues to play a bewitching yet illusive woman who always manages to stay one step ahead of her suitor, and this time her getaway vehicle is a vintage speedboat that she pilots on the Seine. Here, she reflects on her ongoing partnership with the French fashion house and with the British director.

Wright and Knightley met when the actress auditioned for the lead role of Elizabeth Bennett for the filmmaker’s 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice, and they’ve since collaborated on two more features, Atonement and Anna Karenina. “Having this creative relationship with him is an incredible chance for me,” says Knightley. “Working with someone you know and who knows you just as well changes absolutely everything. We create a story together more quickly.” Wright notes that he and Knightley felt the third film for Chanel needed to show viewers what became of the woman on the motorcycle. “We felt it important to be the same character, but in a different context.”

As a muse, Knightley is still beguiling in this third film, and she’s anything but caged.

By Elizabeth Varnell

Pictured: Keira Knightley in a film still from the Coco Mademoiselle short film.
Image courtesy of Chanel

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