Angelina Jolie radiated high fashion glamour as she stepped onto the red carpet for the premiere of Couture at the Pathe Palace in Paris on Monday night.
The actress, 50, who stars as Maxine Walker in the film ahead of its release on February 18, commanded attention as she arrived in the French capital for the highly anticipated screening.
Angelina cut a striking figure in a sheer, floor-length gown adorned with shimmering sequins, effortlessly blending elegance with drama. She elevated the look with towering black stilettos and completed her red carpet appearance with a glossy, voluminous blowout that framed her face to perfection.
In Couture, Angelina plays Maxine, a filmmaker who travels to Paris to create a video for a major fashion event. Although Maxine has little interest in the fashion world, she reluctantly takes the job as she navigates a turbulent period in her life. She is in the midst of a divorce, raising a teenage daughter, and attempting to line up her next film project.
Her plans unravel when she receives a devastating breast cancer diagnosis shortly after arriving in Paris. As the story unfolds, the film closely follows Maxine’s evolving relationship with her body, her sense of identity, and her place in the world.
Angelina has spoken openly about why the role resonated so deeply with her, explaining that Maxine’s struggle to prevent her diagnosis from defining her entire identity mirrored emotions her own mother once expressed.
Her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, died in 2007 at the age of 56 after an eight-year battle with ovarian and breast cancer.
Scenes from the official trailer show Angelina’s character overcome with emotion, breaking down in tears as she processes her diagnosis and its impact on her life.
The trailer also teases a romantic connection between Maxine and her cinematographer, portrayed by French actor Louis Garrel.
Directed by Alice Winocour, Couture weaves together the stories of three women Maxine encounters through her work. These include Angèle, a veteran makeup artist who is secretly writing a fictional novel inspired by her experiences in the fashion industry, and Ada, an 18-year-old pharmacy student from Nairobi, Kenya, who has recently been discovered as a model.
Angelina stars alongside Louis Garrel, Ella Rumpf, Anyier Anei, and Garance Marillier in the drama, and she also serves as a producer on the project.
The film is scheduled for release in France in February 2026, and Angelina has described it as a "very personal story".
She said she had "always admired Alice's work," praising the director’s "unique" approach to illness and applauding her for handling the film’s sensitive themes "with such delicacy".
"Too often, films about women's struggles — especially cancer — talk about endings and sadness, rarely about life," Angelina said.
"Hardships, illnesses, and pain are part of our existence, but what matters is how we face them," she added.
Reflecting on her mother’s experience, Angelina shared a deeply personal memory. "My mother was ill for years. One evening, when she was being asked about her chemotherapy, she became very emotional and told me she would have preferred to talk about something else; she felt as though the illness was becoming her entire identity."
"I love this film because it tells a story that goes far beyond the journey of a sick person: it shows life. It was this luminous perspective that touched me and made me want to play this role."
Angelina’s connection to the subject matter extends beyond performance. In May 2013, she underwent a preventative double mastectomy followed by reconstructive surgery after learning she carried a genetic mutation that dramatically increased her risk of developing breast cancer.
The BRCA1 gene mutation left the mother of six with an estimated 87 percent chance of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, a decision that made her one of the most prominent public figures to speak openly about preventative surgery and cancer awareness.