On Apple TV+, ‘The New Look’ fashions a compelling drama about complicity with the Nazis
I’m a fan of Apple TV+’s “The New Look,” which is running right now (seven of 10 episodes are out) and I’m a fan of its star. Well, really I’m a fan of most of its stars, including Juliette Binoche as Coco Chanel and Maisie Williams as Catherine Dior, but I’m particularly impressed by Ben Mendelsohn, who plays Christian Dior. Set during the Nazi occupation of Paris, the show is about both intentional and unwitting complicity with the Nazis and, in the aftermath of the occupation, the hunger for beauty and hope.
As Dior, Mendelsohn delivers a performance whose power is in its subdued affect. It’s a hard trick that he masters beautifully, gently showing the facets of Dior’s caretaker personality, which is most evident with his sister, Catherine. Her resistance work has led to her capture and placement in a concentration camp, but most believe she is dead. Dior refuses to mourn her, convinced she is still alive out there, even while everyone around him wants him to move on. He becomes fixated on her inevitable return, an impossibly stubborn quality that Mendelsohn endows with a lovely commitment. Mendelsohn makes it the first telling glimpse we get that his passive nature is being supplanted by a sense of self-determination.
Dior loves making dresses and making women look good, but he is afraid to break out on his own and continues designing for Lucien Lelong (John Malkovich with an oddball accent) — even after he learns that Lelong is selling the dresses to Nazis. As we know, given the familiarity of his name, Dior will finally find the wherewithal to make a move, and it’s a process Mendelsohn portrays with just the right incremental shifts. I’ve admired him before, particularly in “Bloodline” (which brought him an Emmy) and “The Outsider,” the HBO series based on Stephen King’s novel. But I think this is my favorite of his performances, and I’m hoping Apple TV+ will bring the show back for a second season.