MacLaine as ‘Coco Chanel’? Shirley you jest

Coco Chanel is getting the Lifetime treatment.

I mean that in the gooiest, most schmaltzy sense of the term.

The cable channel known for its chick-victim fare sees fashion in its future. “Project Runway” will make the move from Bravo to the soapy station, beginning its sixth-season premiere in January.

First comes Lifetime’s original three-hour movie, “Coco Chanel” (tonight at 8). What some might call a gutsy view of fashion’s most influential talent of the 20th century others will find appalling. The movie stops short of being a fashion faux pas, but the strong, forceful Chanel would never welcome the premise of this biographical movie – that her success was a result of the tragic relationships she had with men.

That said, Barbora Bobulova, a Hallmark Hall of Fame veteran, is a beauty and pleasant to watch. Her ingenue persona captivates the screen a la Audrey Tautou in “Amelie,” and she has terrific chemistry with her suitors, Etienne and Boy.

Chanel’s early life is the bulk of the three-hour silver-screen investment, told in flashbacks from the 1954 Chanel played by Shirley MacLaine. The feisty Oscar winner should be a natural for the role.

Unfortunately, MacLaine skims the surface of Chanel’s driven personality. This is the woman who freed women from the corset, gave them costume pearls and the little black dress. This is the same woman who declared then-60-year-old Katherine Hepburn too old to play her, according to her New York Times obituary. Chanel died in 1971 at age 87.

MacLaine spouts Chanel’s famous sound bites but takes a pass on the French accent. At times she seems to be channeling Tess Carlisle, a performance from a past life. Lifetime could have called this “Guarding Coco.”

“COCO CHANEL”Tonight at 8 on Lifetime.