By Rosemary Ford
rford@eagletribune.com

PORTSMOUTH — Tolstoy, Chanel and Keats are only a few of the legends whose lives are explored in film at the 11th annual Telluride by the Sea film series at The Music Hall this Friday through Sunday.

The series begins with “Coco before Chanel,” the smash hit in France starring Audrey Tatou that traces the famed designer’s early life. On Saturday, two short documentaries will be featured: “The Solitary Life of Cranes,” exploring the invisible life of a city through the eyes of crane drivers, and “The Last Truck: The Closing of a GM Plant.”

Those films will be followed by “The Last Station,” a comic-dramatic account of Tolstoy’s final months with Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren. Later see “An Education,”  featuring Carey Mulligan, Emma Thompson and Alfred Molina.

Next up is “Vincere,” another true story based on the life of Benito Mussolini’s mistress, Ida Dalser. And finally, “Bright Star” looks into the consuming but unconsummated passion between poet John Keats and his neighbor Fanny Brawne.

“To me biopics have the added thrill of watching the lines that blur between reality and fantasy, biography and art,” said Film Outreach Coordinator Chris Curtis. “The viewer resides within a mysterious triangle composed of historical account, versus the perception of the filmmakers, versus one’s own biases about what may be true and what may be artistic elaboration.”

Film curator and Telluride Film Festival co-founder Bill Pence said the number of true stories in this year’s Telluride series wasn’t intentional.

“I don’t think there is a grand scheme, but I have to say I find it interesting,” Pence said.

If you go:
What: Telluride by the Sea.
When: Friday through Sunday, Sept. 18 to 20. For precise screening times visit www.themusichall.org, or call the box office at 603-436-2400.
Where: The Music Hall, 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth, N.H.
How: Tickets range from $200 for a weekend pass that includes access to all films and special events to $10.50 for an individual screening. Buy them at the box office, by calling 603-436-2400 or by visiting www.themusichall.org.
Notes: Because of Rosh Hashanah, there will be extra screenings of films on Sunday night (8:45 p.m.) and Monday, Sept. 21 (7:30 p.m.). The Portsmouth Criterium Bicycle Race course goes through the downtown area Sunday afternoon, and most streets in the vicinity will be closed. Allow for limited parking and potential delays walking to the Music Hall.

About the films
‘Coco Before Chanel’
Anne Fontaine traces the famed designer’s early life, from orphanage to barroom chanteuse, to the development of her distinctive fashion aesthetic.
‘The Solitary Life of Cranes’
Part city symphony, part visual poem from director Eva Weber, this documentary explores the invisible life of a city through the eyes of crane drivers high above its streets, starting with their climb up at dawn and climb down after a nightshift.

‘The Last Truck’
Just before Christmas ‘08, General Motors shut its Moraine, Ohio assembly plant, and 2,500 workers and 200 management staff were left without jobs. This is that story.

‘The Last Station’
Writer-director Michael Hoffman (“Restoration”) delivers a thrilling comic-dramatic account of Tolstoy’s final months.

‘An Education’
In a coming-of-age story adapted by Nick Hornby (“High Fidelity”), Jenny (Carey Mulligan), a spirited Sixth Form student, gets two educations in the early 1960s Twickenham—one in English literature from a kindly schoolteacher and the other in the school of life from a charismatic, smooth-talking hustler (Peter Sarsgaard) twice her age.

‘Vincere’
Master Italian writer/director Marco Bellocchio’s film follows the tragic story of Benito Mussolini’s mistress Ida Dalser, who bore Il Duce a son and whose desperate efforts to be acknowledged ensured her doom.

‘Bright Star’
The consuming but unconsummated passion between the poet John Keats and his neighbor Fanny Brawne spawned some of the most celebrated love letters in literary history.