'The New Look' Episode 5 Takeaway: Coco Chanel endures an economic crisis amid self-exile in Switzerland
Spoilers for 'The New Look' Episode 5
BERN, SWITZERLAND: The ongoing biographical drama 'The New Look' on Apple TV+ is progressing from the Nazi invasion of France to its aftermath.
The series, which chronicles the lives of iconic fashion designers Christian Dior (Ben Mendelsohn) and Coco Chanel (Juliette Binoche), also dives into their personal struggles.
In the last episode of the series, it was established that Coco, fearing public indignation due to her dubious Nazi affiliations, decides to go into self-exile with her beloved nephew Andre Palasse (Joseph Olivennes) and his daughter Gabrielle (Alice Haldane).
Little does Coco know that her journey ahead will be fraught with many new challenges.
Coco Chanel struggles to buy property in 'The New Look' Episode 5
The fifth episode, titled 'Give Your Heart and Soul,' effectively establishes Coco's struggles to survive in the country of alps.
After a while of lodging in a hotel, Coco and her family took an interest in a property. To her astonishment, however, they learned that the French government was preventing her assets from crossing the Swiss border, meaning she would not be able to purchase the opulent manor unless she paid in cash.
However, her lawyer, Rene De Chambrun (Frederic Anscombre), refuses to sell her stake because he believes it would jeopardise her business, forcing her to reside at the opulent hotel, acting to be wealthy.
Coco Chanel gets robbed by her driver Conrad
Later, Andre inquires as to whether Coco has paid her driver, Conrad (Edouard Giard).
She says that she has, but she has been low on finances for some time and will pay as soon as possible.
But thereafter, Coco found herself subdued by Conrad and his two acquaintances, who had previously demanded his two months' salary from her.
The driver took off with both Coco's vehicle and fifty-nine of her brand's counterfeit perfume bottles.
Coco, who was left alone in the middle of nowhere, had no option but to hitchhike and when she returned to her sumptuous hotel, she was met with accusatory looks.
In the concluding moments of the episode, a determined Coco tells Rene that she will sue Wertheimers, her former partners, for counterfeiting her perfume bottles.
'The New Look' is now streaming on Apple TV+