Rating: R | Runtime: 106 minutes
Release Date: February 18th, 2026 (France) / June 26th, 2026 (USA)
Studio: Pathé Films / Vertical Entertainment
Director(s): Alice Winocour
Writer(s): Alice Winocour

I think I trust you.

Writer/director Alice Winocour talks about her latest film Couture as being a tapestry interwoven between three women (Angelina Jolie’s film director Maxine Walker, Anyier Anei’s Sudanese first-time model Ada, and Ella Rumpf’s make-up artist Angèle), but there’s also a fourth in Garance Marillier’s dressmaker Christine. I find it interesting to leave her off the list considering her place in their stories and her art’s parallels to what they endure.

It’s her dress that is opening the show at Milan’s Fashion Week—the dress that Ada will be wearing to make her debut. You could say it’s like a piece of armor much like the cosmetics Angèle wields to ensure her clients look their best. A means to give its wearer the confidence to inspire. And its construction begins with a series of red lines pinned to a bust for perfect measurements that mirror the marker grid drawn upon Maxine’s chest to prepare for surgery.

These are the layers with which Winocour utilizes to bring these women to life as a collective rather than focus solely on one while the others come and go in the background. It’s partially why she chose the title Coutures being that the word means “stitches” in French and thus speaks to the sewing of fabric, skin, and lives colliding in a single place from myriad directions. They arrive for the show, but they commiserate over the guttural scream they all wish to let out.

Which is probably why we never actually hear one. Not of anguish when Maxine gets the news of her cancer diagnosis. Not of frustration when Angèle traverses the competitive landscape of an on-call job that treats her as expendable. Not the literal scream Ada must deliver at the climax of the short film Maxine was hired to direct as an introduction to the show. Because, more than the release itself, the film depicts the reasons these women need to scream and why they can’t.

This event exposes the rough ecosystem they exist within—one dictated by subservience to the craft, financiers, and audience. You see the knee-jerk cattiness of Ukrainian model Julia (Julia Ratner) thawing upon realizing Ada is more like her than initial thought. The demands forced upon Angèle despite agreed upon terms as well as a male writer charging her to say the real-life moments written in her book aren’t “credible.”

A big part of the conflict facing Maxine is the result of her finally being able to shoot her dream project when fashion week ends. She and her DP Anton (Louis Garrel) are only here because they needed the work and it fit perfectly within their tight schedule—a schedule that cancer risks throwing out the window. So, as her doctor (Vincent Lindon’s Hansen) relays, a choice must be made. The film or the hope to keep living and be with her daughter.

Ada is trying to send money home to her family amidst war and Christine is skipping meals to get her dress perfect. Each of these characters are sacrificing something whether time, health, or sanity to care for and support others, so it means a lot when they’re able to find purpose and joy for themselves in the process. Julia tells Ada that she’s in control, but the sentiment isn’t always true. All we actually control is our reactions to the uncontrollable.

And that’s what we’re shown on-screen. The poise and courage to keep going despite the chaos and pain thrown their way on a consistent basis. It’s about finding people to confide in and support them like they support so many others even if it means opening up to an absolute stranger. Because, while these women might not know each other intimately, they are keenly aware of the weight each carries upon her shoulders.

Couture is very much an actors’ film as a result. Performance reigns supreme over plot as the latter exists solely to provide the scenarios for Jolie, Anei, and Rumpf to let their emotions breathe introspection into the machine-like process of this expensive endeavor providing them all a paycheck. Jolie and Anei are the most impactful considering the drama at the back of their storylines, but Rumpf is great too as an observer giving voice to their hopeful sorrow.

It probably won’t work for everyone as a whole, but the pieces are worth a look just the same. Because those who don’t latch onto its collective spirit of perseverance can at least appreciate the tenacity of a stranger in a strange land finding her footing and a woman reconciling the invincibility that comes from finally getting everything she wants with the reality that nothing in this life is guaranteed. It’s often at our most vulnerable that love finds its clearest focus.

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Angelina Jolie and Louis Garrel in COUTURE; courtesy of Vertical Entertainment.