Review: COUTURE, Glasgow Film Festival
Part of the 2026 Glasgow Film Festival programme
Glasgow Film Festival hosted the UK premiere of Couture, directed by Alice Winocour and starring Angelina Jolie, Ella Rumpf and Anyier Anei.
Maxine (Jolie) is an American filmmaker working at Paris Fashion Week when she receives a serious medical diagnosis. Away from home, she grapples with what changes treatment will bring to her life and what the future holds. Angelina Jolie’s performance is powerful as she deals with this diagnosis alone and it's particularly impactful knowing that some of this story echoes Jolie’s own reality.
Couture centres on three women with very different roles in the fashion and film world, and how their lives are linked. Angele (Rumpf) is a struggling makeup artist who aspires to be a writer but struggles to assert herself in the cutthroat fashion industry. Ada (Anyier Anei) is a young woman from Sudan who has been thrust into the spotlight with a very different background to the other models.
Winocour’s film is quietly devastating and speaks to the strength of the human spirit. Visually, it is beautiful to watch, and the contrast of the sleekness of the fashion show and the underlying hardships of these women is stark.
For a drama, this is pretty low on the drama, and nothing is sensationalised. Couture is a low-key film that highlights the need to carry on when things are tough and feels very true to life.
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