Premiere - Couture: Alice Winocour Unveils a Deeply Human Film at the Heart of Fashion Week

By Mulder, Paris, Pathé Palace, 09 february 2026

Presented in Paris on February 9, 2026 at the Pathé Palace, Couture celebrated its French premiere in an atmosphere that perfectly reflected the film itself: elegant on the surface, deeply human underneath. Our media was present for this much-anticipated event, which marked the final major step before the film’s French theatrical release scheduled for February 18, 2026. The screening was preceded by a lively and warmly received introduction hosted by the ever-inimitable Antoine de Caunes, whose wit and ease immediately set a tone of closeness with the audience. He welcomed director and screenwriter Alice Winocour, who took the stage alongside an exceptional cast including Angelina Jolie, Ella Rumpf, Louis Garrel, Vincent Lindon, Garance Marillier, Aurore Clément, and Finnegan Oldfield. The fifteen-minute presentation was met with sustained applause, giving the clear sense that this was not merely a premiere, but the arrival of a film already carrying strong emotional and artistic expectations.

Written and directed by Alice Winocour, Couture is a 2025 drama that continues her exploration of intimate experiences confronted with hostile or unfamiliar environments, this time through the seemingly glamorous but relentlessly demanding world of Paris Fashion Week. The story follows Maxine, an American filmmaker who arrives in Paris and is abruptly confronted with a life-altering medical diagnosis, crossing paths with Ada, a young South Sudanese model newly arrived in France, and Angèle, a French makeup artist dreaming of another life. As these three women from radically different backgrounds begin to connect, Couture gradually reveals a quiet but powerful form of resistance, one born from solidarity, shared vulnerability, and the need to reclaim one’s own body and narrative beneath the polished surface of the fashion industry.

Originally developed under the title Stitches, the project entered production in November 2024 in Paris, when Angelina Jolie, Louis Garrel, Ella Rumpf, Garance Marillier, Anyier Anei, and Finnegan Oldfield officially joined the cast. The film was retitled Couture in February 2025 and quickly established itself on the international festival circuit, premiering worldwide at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2025 in the Special Presentations section. It subsequently screened at the San Sebastián International Film Festival, the Rome Film Festival, and served as the opening film of the QCinema International Film Festival in November 2025. Critical reception was notably strong, with Deadline critic Pete Hammond describing the film as an engrossing study of humanity and vulnerability, while highlighting Angelina Jolie’s performance as one of the most accomplished of her career.

One of the film’s most remarkable and historically significant aspects lies in its unprecedented collaboration with Chanel. Couture is the first fictional feature film ever granted permission to shoot inside the Maison’s Paris Haute Couture salons and ateliers, including the iconic staircase on rue Cambon. This access allowed Alice Winocour to anchor her fictional narrative in the tangible reality of fashion labor, focusing not on artistic directors or celebrity spectacle, but on seamstresses, makeup artists, and backstage workers, many of whom appear on screen portraying their own roles. Working closely with acclaimed costume designer Pascaline Chavanne, the production created original couture pieces for the film’s final runway sequence, inspired by Pre-Raphaelite painting and designed to echo the film’s constant oscillation between darkness and light, life and mortality. Chanel Beauté further contributed by providing all makeup products used on set, reinforcing the film’s commitment to authenticity and craft 

On a purely cinematic level, Couture stands out for the precision of its direction and the depth of its performances. Angelina Jolie delivers an exceptionally restrained yet emotionally open portrayal of Maxine, a role deeply informed by her own personal history and engagement with women’s health issues. Ella Rumpf brings raw energy and empathy to Angèle, a character who quietly becomes the film’s connective tissue, while Anyier Anei, in her first major acting role, is nothing short of revelatory, infusing Ada with a presence shaped by lived experience rather than performance alone. Opposite them, Louis Garrel and Vincent Lindon embody male figures defined less by authority than by observation, distance, and fragile intimacy, reinforcing the film’s central concern with gaze, power, and the body as a site of both control and emancipation.

By the end of the Paris premiere, it became clear that Couture is not a film about fashion, but a film about the women who move through it, survive it, and sometimes resist it from within. In the prestigious setting of the Pathé Palace, this premiere felt less like a conventional launch and more like a statement: that Alice Winocour has crafted a work where personal trauma becomes collective experience, where beauty and suffering coexist without spectacle, and where cinema once again proves its power to give voice to those who usually remain just outside the spotlight.

You can discover our photos in our Flickr page : Red Carpet, Presentation

Synopsis : 
In Paris, amid the hustle and bustle of Fashion Week, Maxine, an American filmmaker, receives news that will turn her life upside down. She then crosses paths with Ada, a young South Sudanese model who has left her country, and Angèle, a French makeup artist aspiring to a different life. Between these three women from such different backgrounds, an unexpected bond develops. Beneath the glamorous surface, a silent rebellion emerges: that of women who, each in their own way, are piecing together the threads of their own stories.

Couture
Written and directed by Alice Winocour
Produced by Angelina Jolie, Charles Gillibert, Zhang Xin, William Horberg
Starring  Angelina Jolie, Louis Garrel, Ella Rumpf, Garance Marillier
Cinematography : André Chemetoff
Edited by Julien Lacheray
Music : Filip Leyman, Anna Von Hausswolff
Production companies : CG Cinéma, Closer Media, Chanel, France 3 Cinéma, Canal+, Ciné+ OCS, France Télévisions
Distributed by Pathé
Release dates : September 7, 2025 (TIFF), February 18, 2026 (France)
Running time : 106 minutes

Couture Presentation Photos and video 4K : Boris Colletier / Mulderville
Couture Red Carpet : @fannyrlphotography