The one-sided war of attrition between Karl Lagerfeld and Heidi Klum has been briefly cancelled. It seems Dame Lagerfeld’s newest enemy is none other than French actress Audrey Tautou. American audiences will know Audrey from The DaVinci Code, and the Oscar-nominated French film Amelie. She’s currently promoting her role as the young Coco Chanel in Coco Avant Chanel. The film has caused some minor controversy here and there – Audrey’s casting as Coco wasn’t universally loved, and there was some rabble-rousing over the images of cigarettes and smoking in the posters.

Though Lagerfeld is the fashion director for Chanel, he doesn’t have a say in anything other than the clothing line. So Audrey Tautou wasn’t even Karl’s choice to replace Nicole Kidman as the face of Chanel No. 5 – nor was Karl involved in Coco Avant Chanel, although the director recently claimed Karl had given his blessing. What seemed to set off the anger bear this time was a recent interview with Audrey, where she didn’t seem to gush over Chanel clothing. Karl responded in turn, saying “After that, I don’t have to be nice.” What’s French for “bitchslap”?

There’s no love lost between Chanel’s couturier Karl Lagerfeld and Audrey Tautou, the petite French actress who stars in the latest No.5 commercial and the film “Coco Before Chanel.” Lagerfeld was not involved in either project, but he took Tautou to task for remarks in an interview in a recent issue of Premiere in France. Asked if she wears a lot of Chanel, she replied: “Sometimes. This morning, I wore the rain boots.”

“I didn’t even know we made rain boots,” quipped Lagerfeld. “After that, I don’t have to be nice.” If he had his druthers, Lagerfeld said he would have suggested Penélope Cruz as a better role model for the storied French house.

[From Women’s Wear Daily]

How in the world would Penelope Cruz have done better? I don’t understand. Coco was French. It’s best if she’s played by a French woman. I just looked up pictures of Coco, and Audrey Tautou looks eerily similar to her. What goes on in Karl Lagerfeld’s deranged mind? And why don’t I have Chanel rain boots? Which do exist, by the way, Dame Lagerfeld. All in all, I doubt this will become the kind of hateful, one-sided feud that Karl had with Heidi. But you can never tell with Karl. He’s like a bright orange snake wearing dark sunglasses that jumps up to bite you when you least expect it.

Audrey Tatou is shown on 5/4/09 (mustard-colored dress) credit: WENN.com and 2/28/08 (silver skirt and white jacket) credit: Fame Pictures. Karl Lagerfeld is shown on 7/7/09 and 6/28/09. Credit: WENN.com

40 year-old pregnant actress Nicole Kidman will no longer be representing the iconic rich old ladies’ fragrance Chanel No. 5. She’s been replaced by cutesy French actress Audrey Tautou, 29, who played the wide-eyed childlike role in Amelie:

[Nicole Kidman] has been replaced as the face of Chanel No.5 by French beauty Audrey Tatou…

It is not known exactly how much the lucrative deal was worth, but sources say it is at least £4.3 million.

Kidman has been associated with the fragrance since 2004, when she appeared in a $60million advertisement directed by fellow Australian and Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann.

Meanwhile things are smelling Rosy for 29-year-old Tatou who will be reunited with Amelie director Jean-Pierre Jeunet calling the shots for the advertisment campaign.

[From The Daily Mail]

We had some Chanel No. 5 in the house at one point that my husband probably inherited from an ex and I remember smelling it and wondering what the big deal was. It didn’t appeal to me and I certainly wouldn’t use it. I wore Angel at the time, (which is incidentally now repped by Naomi Watts) but it’s become way too popular and you don’t want to smell like everyone else.

Wikipedia notes that Coco Chanel created her signature fragrance in 1921 with the intent to make it smell nasty and artificial. That’s not exactly how they phrase it, but that’s what I got out of it:

“I want to give women an artificial perfume,” said Chanel. “Yes, I really do mean artificial, like a dress, something that has been made. I don’t want any rose or lily of the valley, I want a perfume that is a composition.” [1] No. 5 is famous for being the first perfume to heavily rely on synthetic floral aldehydes as a top note. Before synthetics, perfume either had to be applied heavily or frequently so that the fragrance would last.

Chanel applied the French aesthetic theory that “ugly” placed next to “beautiful”[citation needed], by contrast, makes the beautiful object appear more so. In this era almost all perfumes were floral and “pretty” – designed to enhance a woman’s beauty with more beauty. Instead of the scent of flowers, Coco wanted a perfume that “reflects my personality, something abstract and unique”. She believed that a perfume should serve to spotlight a woman’s natural beauty using contrast – i.e. the artificial perfume would make the woman’s natural beauty more evident.[citation needed]

[From Wikipedia]

So somehow an expensive perfume that was purposely made to smell artificial using the less scientifically advanced chemicals available 85 years ago is still selling well.

Losing out on an $8.5 million contract has got to hurt. I wonder if Kidman knew that she was about to replaced or if it came as a surprise to her. She’s pregnant so it doesn’t seem quite fair that she would be canned at this point.

Audrey Tautou used to annoy me, because she’s such a sweet little pixie that I used to think it was a put on. She genuinely seems like a decent person though. She hasn’t become half as successful as she should have after Amelie, and only had one big Hollywood film, The Da Vinci Code, since. Maybe this Chanel campaign will help bring her more name recognition and International success.

Audrey Tautou is shown on 2/28/08 at Paris Fashion Week, thanks to WENN.

In what sounds like a response to critics panning her new film, “The DaVinci Code,” French actress Audrey Tautou, best known as the cutesy meddler in “Amelie,” says that she’s going to quit acting:

She sounds like a sensitive person and she’s probably quite hurt by the bad reviews of “DaVinci Code.”

Hopefully she’s just being reactionary and won’t quit anytime soon. One bad film is not a good enough reason to throw away an acting career. She’s only 27, and has a good three years left in her by her own account, anyway.

Here she is looking cute and just a little bit flirty with Tom Hanks at a DaVinci Code photo call, and at the premiere and after party for the film. She is also shown in stills from the movie.