Ben Mendelsohn On Seeing Christian Dior As a Different Hero in ‘The New Look’

The New Look is not a drama about the innerworkings of the fashion world in Paris as much as it serves as a lifeline to those unable to come out of imaginable tragedy. Todd A. Kessler’s drama series is a humanistic look at how we move on, how we pick up the pieces, and how we connect through art. Ben Mendelsohn, as Christian Dior, examines the famed designer’s personal turmoil in one of the best performances of his career.

You think you are going to watch a show about dueling fashion hours when you settle in for Kessler’s series, but you will be floored by how it plunks us down at the end of the second World War to find names we have known our entire lives trying to keep their dignity and stay alive. The New Look is about creation and how we use that creation to make something beautiful. I told him about the line from the musical that says, “The opposite of war isn’t peace. It’s creation.”

“What a beautiful line,” Mendelsohn says. “It’s a real honor. I think because Todd [A. Kessler] and I have known each other for so long, that he could see Christian in me to try this. Some of the things we did is some of the hardest and best work that I’ve ever done just in terms of the physical mechanics of the shoot. In those middle episode, before Catherine comes back, we pushed things to real extremes. That period is like a zombie mist zone, in a way. It’s hard to remember anything but terror, elation, and real shame. There were times when Christian would go to tears, but I couldn’t stop. I would have to walk away to protect myself, because I felt upset and I didn’t want to be witnessed. I love Christian more than anyone that I’ve ever played. There are many, many people that knew him as a gentle, sweet, principled person. It’s a different type of hero, and I love that.”

Juliette Binoche’s Coco Chanel and Mendelsohn’s Dior do not have many scenes together, but as he looks to anyone for help in finding his sister, Catherine, Chanel offers some simple advice. ‘Don’t sacrifice yourself for loyalty, Monsieur Dior. That road leads nowhere,’ she says. One might think that line is cruel when she is just trying to help Dior confront the truth.

“They are such interesting counterpoint to each other,” he says. “One of the successes with this show is that it’s not heavy on the pedal than it ought to be. We did some interviews in New York and hearing Juliette speak about Coco, she’s brought to tears. And then I’m brought to tears. It goes to point that we both have a strong connection to whatever that is, and we are very much on our person’s side. Coco had to come through a lot of different things, and that’s her good word. I don’t think Coco is being cruel for the sake of being cruel–I think that’s the best she has to offer. I don’t think she appreciates the emotion, and she doesn’t want to deal with feelings.”

One of the strongest elements of Dior’s life is how he surrounds himself with other famous men who are reshaping the world of French couture. These scenes, in dark bars swirling with cigarette smoke, expose us to a brotherhood of men whose art has been seen walking down the streets of every major, fashionable city. Dior’s friendships with people like Pierre Balmain, Lucian Lelong, and Cristóbal Balenciaga were essential in helping Dior survive.

“It was so amazing to understand that these titanic brands, places and cultural touchstones are not that far back in time,” Mendelsohn says. “They all hung out together. Paris is all about cliques and there is some movement within that, but they were such a clique. It’s amazing. No one had their chips on Christian, and they all worshipped and adored as Balenciaga. He was the most beautiful, the most at ease, the most capable designer–he was everything. Everyone admired him. Coco became controversial, no doubt, but she was a titan. Christian is witnessing it all right in front of him.”

Dior’s central conflict with himself is that he thinks he failed his sister. For most of his life, his mother told him that he was responsible for Catherine’s safety, and we imagine that her being tortured and taken by the Nazis is Dior’s worst fear realized. When she returns, however, that fear doesn’t go away, and he must wrestle with letting go of that. How does that guilt linger and evolve?

“At some point or another, he begins getting angry with her,” he says. “I don’t think anyone could comprehend what happened, and there was a period of time where people emerged and they were isolated in it. It took a while after the war to realize how systematic it was. When she returns, she’s just so gone. It’s a different type of a terror, but it’s also despair. At some point or another, they are quite pissed at each other because he is trying to keep her wrapped up in cotton wool and she is trying to emerge from that. Christian can’t hear that properly. As siblings, we would have antagonistic feelings and it wouldn’t all be loving. The sense of responsibility that he carried to honor this family that was in real decline is something he kept with him for long time.”

The New Look is streaming now on Apple TV+.