TORONTO – It’s easy to imagine how much the script for Alice Winocour’s “Couture” resonated with Angelina Jolie. Her character, Maxine, an American movie director known for her work in the horror genre, has been hired by a Paris fashion house to shoot the introductory visuals for their latest runway show. This is new territory for her, but she’s excited by the opportunity and, frankly, needs the money. It’s a fun gig. That is, until she gets a call from her Los Angeles doctor, who informs her she has a form of breast cancer. A disease that, off camera, took the lives of Jolie’s own mother and grandmother. And as the film unfolds, the depth of her performance demonstrates how much portraying this character means to her. Unfortunately, her director may have overreached in threading Maxine’s story with two very different narratives within her orbit.
READ MORE: ‘The Christophers’ Review: Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel Spar in Steven Soderbergh’s Smart Art World Drama [TIFF]
A world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, “Couture” also follows Ada (Anyier Anei, at times breathtaking, at times not), a South Sudanese national walking in her first show, and Angèle (Ella Rumpf, quite good), a makeup artist looking to transition out of the fashion world. They all have their own challenges in an industry that is arguably not supportive or collaborative. Oh, and Winocour makes sure the undercurrent of misogyny they experience is impossible to ignore.

While Maxine tries to deal with a creative director who doesn’t see her vision, she’s also juggling finding a window of time to visit a specialist in Paris (Vincent Lindon, never fails), recommended by her LA physician. That doctor informs her that the cancer has spread more than the initial tests indicated and insists she undergo surgery as soon as possible. In theory, it cannot wait, but Maxine is shooting her next movie in a month. She’s spent years trying to get it off the ground. Like anyone in her position, she cannot comprehend dropping everything to begin this fight. Can’t it wait two or three months?
Ada finds herself in an unfamiliar city, thrown into a large apartment filled with experienced models who are initially skeptical of her talents. Especially when they realize she’s the one chosen not only to open the show, but to star in Maxine’s visual introduction. She is also already carrying the weight of supporting her family back home, a family that does not understand why she is going down this career path.
Angèle’s story is perhaps the most bare bones. She’s balancing multiple freelance gigs with clients who couldn’t care less about her schedule or personal life. She’s over it and praying a book deal comes through to get her out of the biz. Rumpf gives Winocour a gift by injecting more personality and charisma into Angèle than is on the page. Frankly, the movie could have used more of her.
As the film progresses, Winocour tries to keep the storylines intertwined through the big show, but Maxine’s story begins to splinter off into what feels like a separate film. Fearful of the future and what may happen to her body, she has an intimate night with her longtime, moody cinematographer (Louis Garrel, who clearly knows many moody DPs). It’s a tease for what a film that made Maxine’s journey its primary focus could have been.
The big fashion show itself is believable enough, except for the shockingly small group of people on hand to watch this crazy expensive production. Even a casual pop culture fan would raise an eyebrow (hey, maybe it’s being streamed online, but even so). It doesn’t help that the show, set in a tree-filled park, and the fashions displayed during it are somewhat uninspired. Sadly, the whole setup is quite forgettable. And when a literal storm arrives during the procession, as it has for all three of these women, in one way or another, it aesthetically feels all too obvious for a filmmaker of Winocour’s stature.
There are moments, though. There is the seamstress who stays up all night to fix the couture that Ada is set to reveal the next day. Her colleagues wake her up from her desk as they arrive in the morning, eventually clapping for what she’s pulled off. And you wish those sorts of moments were peppered throughout a bit more. And there is a superb Jolie, teasing a renaissance on the horizon worthy of her talents. That movie is hopefully forthcoming, but it’s not here. Not yet. [C+]
Follow along for all our coverage of the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival,