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Couture: What to expect from the fashion drama starring Angelina Jolie?
After winning over critics with the feature film Paris Memories, Alice Winocour is taking on the world of fashion with Couture, a story taking place during Paris Fashion Week. Scheduled for release on February 18th, 2026, the plot traces back the intertwined fates of three women, starring Angelina Jolie in the lead role.
By Violaine Schütz,
and Nathan Merchadier.
Published on 8 September 2025. Updated on 1 April 2026.
Couture, Alice Winocour’s new feature
A few years after the release of the drama film Paris Memories (2022), centred on a terrorist attack in a brasserie and carried by the brilliant actress Virginie Efira, French director Alice Winocour (Proxima, Augustine, Maryland) is back with a new project… Her new feature premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2025 and will come out in cinemas on February 18th, 2026.
The film Couture is set in the universe of Parisian haute couture. It traces the story of three women from different generations whose destinies intersect during Fashion Week. One of them is Maxine Walker, a horror film director who learns that she has breast cancer. American star Angelina Jolie is portraying this woman.
A story unfolding inside the fashion world
Next to Angelina Jolie, we find actors Louis Garrel as the lover, Ella Rumpf as makeup artist dreaming of becoming a writer, Garance Marillier (Raw, Titane) as a designer, but also Anyier Anei as a young model and Finnegan Oldfield. Just like some of Alice Winocour’s previous works, such as Proxima (2019), Couture was shot in both French and English.
The pitch of this new feature, made in partnership with Chanel? “In the chaos of Paris Fashion Week, Maxine, an American filmmaker, receives news that will turn her life upside down. There, she crosses paths with Ada, a young South Sudanese model who left her homeland, and with Angèle, a French makeup artist dreaming of a different life. Between these three women, whose backgrounds couldn’t be more different, an unexpected solidarity begins to form. Beneath the glamorous surface, a quiet form of rebellion emerges… That of women who, each in their own way, are stitching back together the threads of their own story.”
Angelina Jolie in the cast
This production marks another chapter in Angelina Jolie‘s relationship with the French capital. She recently portrayed Maria Callas in the biopic Maria (2024), which was shot in Paris too and was widely acclaimed at the Venice Film Festival. The feature film also carries a particular significance, as Angelina Jolie’s mother died of cancer and the actress herself underwent a preventive double mastectomy. In the film, she even wears one of her mother’s pieces of jewelry.
“It’s a very personal story for me; I immediately felt a deep connection with Maxine Walker, my character. I’ve always admired Alice’s work. She’s a brilliant director and her way of approaching illness is unlike anything else. Too often, films about women’s struggles – especially cancer – focus on endings and sadness, rarely about life. Alice made a film about life, and that’s precisely why the sensitive subjects it addresses are handled with such delicacy. Hardships, illnesses, and pain are part of our existence, but what matters is how we face them,” the actress shared in an interview with The Times.
A very personal project for the actress
At the Paris premiere of the film on February 9th, 2026, Angelina Jolie said: “I’m still very shy about my French. You’ll see that in the film. I hope it will be okay. It was a very special project for me, especially thanks to the fantastic director and screenwriter, who shared her life and her thoughts with us, and thanks to all the actors. It’s a very personal story for me.”
The director of Maryland (2015) has a knack for surrounding herself with exceptional actresses, from Eva Green in Proxima (2019) to Virginie Efira in Paris Memories. Alice Winocour’s decision to work with an American star follows a current trend. Coralie Fargeat cast Demi Moore in The Substance, and Mélanie Laurent will work with Michelle Yeoh in The Mother.
Couture by Alice Winocour, coming out on February 18th, 2026.
