Colette (I) (2018) User Reviews

"The hand that holds the pen writes history".

[bob-the-movie-man · 6/10 · 4 January 2019]

Colette is yet another tale of female empowerment: a woman with real talent trying to break out of the gilded cage she finds herself trapped in.

This is a true story, set in Paris in the late 19th Century. Colette (Keira Knightley), a beautiful country girl living in Burgundy is seduced by and then married to the much older Parisian 'literary entrepreneur' Willy (Dominic West). Willy is a "brand" in Paris: a well-known critic turned author. The only problem being that he does virtually no writing of his own but ghosts work out to his team. Colette exhibits a gift for writing slightly lascivious tales of her life (under the pseudonym Claudine) at her girl's school, where clearly nighttime swimming lessons taught more than back stroke! As a result, Willy fills a financial hole by publishing Colette's work in his name. The books fly off the shelves faster than the publishers can print them. But Willy has expensive habits and Colette gets locked into writing an ever-popular series but without a voice of her own.

If the "swinging 60's" started anywhere, it was probably in Paris during this time period! While Victorian England was staid and conservative, Paris - home of the Moulin Rouge - was a hot-bed of liberation. As a result, Colette and Willy's marital affairs are - erm - sexually 'fluid'. While Colette has to learn to live with her philandering 'Free Willy', he positively encourages the bi-sexual Colette to explore the other camp, as it were.

Keira Knightley turns in a truly cracking performance in the titular lead. No-one does 'brooding' better than Knightley, and she gets ample chance here to exercise that look, most notably in a train scene near the end of the film: if looks could kill.

Dominic West delivers as reliably a solid performance as you would expect from him, but he is such a despicable and loathsome character that it is difficult to warm to him.

Driving me mad (not sexually you understand.... although...) was the girl playing the American double-dip love interest Georgie: I knew her so well but just couldn't place her. It was the American accent that threw me: she is of course Eleanor Tomlinson, Demelza from TV's "Poldark", here showing a lot more flesh than she can get away with on a Sunday night on BBC1!

The film is obviously in English about one of France's literary greats (although curiously Colette writes in French). My guess is that the film will go down like a lead balloon in France as a result. A part of me would have liked this to be French language with subtitles, but maybe that's just me.

When you look at it objectively, Colette's story is quite remarkable: what a clever and determined woman.

Aside from Knightley, the other star turn in the film comes from cinematographer Giles Nuttgens (who also did "Hell or High Water"). The scenes, particularly the bucolic ones set in the French countryside, are simply gorgeously photographed. The framing of the shots is also exquisite with an impressive shot of the slog up a spiral staircase to the couple's flat being repeatedly used.

It remains curious to me how prudish both the UK and the US are still about sex on screen. In the UK the film is a 15 certificate; in the US the film is R-rated! Yes, there are some breasts on show, and a few mixed- and same-sex couplings (particularly during a frenetic 5 minute period in the middle of the film!), but they are artfully done and you don't get to see much more than the breasts. In comparison, the violence that would get meted out during a 15/R action thriller would typically makes my eyes water.

This is one of those films that is worthy, beautifully done, well acted but for some reason it felt to me like a bit of a slog. At 111 minutes it certainly felt a lot longer than it was. The middle reel of the film in particular is rather pedestrian (and yes, I recognise the irony of the fact that I just said there was the frenetic 5 minutes of sex during that part!). Maybe on the night I was just not in the mood for this type of film.

The director is Englishman Wash Westmoreland, whose last film back in 2014 was the impressive "Still Alice".

I'm glad I've seen it, and it is a lot better than many films I saw last year. But in terms of my "re-watchability" quotient, its not going to rate that highly.

(For the full graphical review, please check out One Mann's Movies on the web or Facebook. Thanks).

Watch it for the stellar performance by Keira Knightley

[paul-allaer · 6/10 · 16 October 2018]

"Colette" is a biopic about noted French writer Gabrielle Colette. As the movie opens, we are in "Saint Sauveur 1892" where Colette is in a passionate relationship with an older guy nicknamed "Willy" (whose real name we don't know), an entrepreneur/writer/publisher/womanizer. Next we are in "Paris 1893", and the two are now married, and feeling at home as socialites. As always, they need more money to support their life style, and one day, at the encouragement of Willy, Colette writes a book loosely based on her own childhood and youth, "Claudine At School". Published under the nom-de-plume Willy, the book is an unexpected critical and commercial success... At this point we are 15 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how t all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from UK director (and co-writer) Wash Westmoreland, whose previous film was the Oscar-winning "Still Alice". Here he brings the improbable story of Gabrielle Colette to the big screen. Given the many twists and turns that she encountered in her life, some (but certainly not all) of which are reflected in the movie, I don't want to say a whole lot more about that, so as not to spoil your viewing experience. Do allow me to alert you to the fact that Colette was nominated for the Nobel Prize of Literature in 1948, a fact that is never even mentioned in the movie, not even in the closing moments as to what became of her in later years (the movie covers roughly the years 1892-1905). "Colette" is, as a movie, neither a masterpiece nor a disaster. That is not a strong recommendation obviously, but it's still worth checking out for the stellar performance of Keira Knightley in the title role. It seems as is Knightley threw herself into this role without holding anything back. Dominic West, as Willy, does quite well too but of course plays an inherent unlikable character. I also have to say that I found it a bit off-putting to see all of these characters, living in France, reading French language newspapers, writing French language letters and diaries, etc. all speak... English.

"Colette" premiered to good acclaim at this year's Sundance film festival. It finally opened recently at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. The early evening screening where I saw this at was attended nicely (and mostly by seniors for some reason). If you are interested in finding out more about one of the best French female authors of the 20th century, even if the film is far from perfect, I'd recommend you check this out, be it at the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

Wrong Language Wrong Cast-

[tm-sheehan · 6/10 · 20 December 2018]

My main criticism of this film is that in my view iconic non English characters rarely work if portrayed by actors of another nationality. I suspect I may have enjoyed this interesting story based on the real life experiences of .possibly the most famous female French .author Colette more as a French film with French actors. I just think it may have lost some of the subtlety of language and atmosphere The actors Keira Knightley as Colette and Dominic West as her husband Wily are good in their roles but imagine for example Beatrice Potter portrayed by Audrey Tattou or Agatha Christie starring Marion Cotillard it would be odd to my mind also and fail to successfully capture their Englishness . In this movie the dialogue is totally English but when Colette is writing, she writes in French, perhaps I'm too picky , it just seemed a little strange. The story of a husband taking the fame and literary credit for his wife's brilliant writing talent and the wife's compliance to hold a marriage together was told earlier this year far far more effectively in "The Wife" starring Glenn Close. This film is about Colette but at times seems dominated and more about Wily the husband they seem to me at times both totally unstable and incompatible especially sexually and emotionally. Willy, fourteen years older than his wife and one of the most notorious libertines in Paris, introduced Colette into avant-garde intellectual and artistic circles while engaging in sexual affairs and encouraging her own lesbian It's worth seeing , not great or an award contender as far as I'm concerned but a very interesting story about a fascinating character who wrote the famous Claudine novels and of course her famous 1944 novel Gigi, which inspired the much loved Lerner and Loewe musical of the same name.

Very well done; changing history? Not so nice.

[kjr032 · 7/10 · 15 December 2018]

Very well done, interesting. A nice period piece. However, at the end the director states, after I thought I was watching a movie that was historically accurate, that he had changed several characters and other aspects to make them more contemporary (meaning: what he thinks the way things ought to have been 100+ years ago, vs reality) re: gender, sexual preference, racial matters, etc. As such, the movie to a degree is fiction; a lie. Which is sad, as it detracts from the ground breaking path that Colette lived.

Colette review by Hogan Coad

[pronoun36 · 6/10 · 25 March 2019]

My thoughts regarding Collette are conflicted to say the least. On one hand, the film is a well-acted, complex love story. On the other hand, it's a well-acted mess that doesn't know what it wants to say. I'll begin by covering the one element of the film I know I liked: the leads. Keira Knightly and Dominic West are a great onscreen couple. They both have human flaws, but the script also acknowledges the true affection between them. In addition to their romance, they also share a relationship as business partners, adding another layer of complexity to their relationship. Through the progression of this love story, I didn't hate one or idolize the other, which I admired on a screenwriting level. However, about halfway through the film, the dialogue and tone start to side with Collette more and more even though the previous scenes never indicated the story held this ethical position. I understand that her name is the title of the picture, but there are still biographical films that don't necessarily support the central figure's motives or actions. In the first hour or so, the film seemed to simply display Colette's life without assigning the roles of a good or bad guy. The story focused and kept the central dramatic elements in check. After this, Colette starts, I don't want to say "falling apart", rather biting off more than it can chew. New characters are introduced quite literally out of nowhere even though they play very important roles. Colette also starts pursuing a career in theatre for reasons that are never really explained. And her husband Willy (Dominic West) is suddenly made out to as the film's antagonist. I would not mind this dramatic shift if more time was dedicated to the relationship. But like I said, there are so many separate events unfolding in the last hour or so that it's impossible to make sense of it all. In fact, the end credits reveal even more important events took place later in her life, that I quite frankly would have liked to see. I think the film makers struggled deciding what approach to use while telling this story. At first, the film seemed purely subjective as it took a neutral stance and simply showed the events one after another. Perhaps the writers later decided they weren't comfortable with this approach and took a one-sided angle for the rest of the project. I don't prefer one point of view over the other, but I wish Colette would have committed to a single method of cinematic storytelling. I've though about this film a lot and have decided to give it a small recommendation. It is a well acted, well-directed, and well-shot picture from beginning to end, but there is a distracting perspective shift that audiences should be aware of.

Interesting story but just a little slow.

[coombsstephen · 6/10 · 19 January 2019]

This is based on a true story and an interesting one at that. The only thing was the story was a little slow and one paced. Even the sex scenes were quite dull and added little to the film.

The highlight was Keira Knightlys Performance in the main role, she played it superbly.

A fairly enjoyable movie

[MC12810 · 6/10 · 10 January 2019]

The tale of Gabrielle Colette is a fascinating one, as it turns out. I was completely unaware of her story before seeing the film, and emerged from the cinema feeling as though I had learnt a lot about this literary legend.

Keira Knightley is remarkable in the title role. This is career-best form from her. She carries the film wonderfully. Denise Gough is also great in the role of 'Missy'. The direction from Wash Westmoreland was also superb. He was able to successfully take the script, and deliver it in the best way possible.

However, the film lets itself down from a weaker story/script where it constantly struggles to find and execute more positive moments from Colette's story. Instead, it focuses on the more gloomy moments from her life, leaving the happier moments sidelined. Some of the supporting characters lack depth, including: Eleanor Tomlinson's 'Georgie' and Aiysha Hart's 'Polaire'. These characters play an integral part in Colette's story, but, their lack of screen time, and the way in which they're written in to the story makes the characters have no real impact in driving the film forward.

This movie does have a few flaws which, overall, lets it down. But, it was still an enjoyable movie.

Lovely to look at, but not thrilling to sit through at one stretch

[richard-1787 · 7/10 · 12 October 2018]

This movie is truly beautiful to watch. Elegant period dress, recreations of turn-of-the-century Paris inside and out that had me wondering how they were achieved. And the acting by the two principles is truly first-rate.

Keira Knightley has it all and does it all as the title character. A truly beautiful performance, including some line-reading that was worthy of Shakespeare - which this screenplay most certainly is not. (See below.) She held me riveted in many a scene.

Not far behind her in the acting dept is Dominic West, who turns Willy into a real if very flawed human being. Modern literary history sees him through Colette's later eyes, so it dismisses him terribly, but here he comes off as a real charmer.

So what's not to like? A great deal, unfortunately. The script, at least through the first half of the movie, is paint by numbers: very obvious, very flat, very unrevealing. Though Knightley clearly could have conveyed anything, it doesn't do a good job of helping us to understand the very complex woman we see. Too often, it sounds like a summary of a Wikipedia biography of the author. What made her so interesting? What made her tick? What made her so remarkable? The script gives us no clue. Is it because the script was written by two men and, third billing, one woman? I don't buy that. Madame Bovary was written by a man, as were many other great female characters in literature. Perhaps the problem lies, at least in part, with the directing as well.

If you want to see this movie, I would wait until you can watch it at home, so you can pause it to do other things when you get bored or just want a break. Having to sit through all 111 minutes in a theater without a break was too much for me - though it did get more involving near the end. Kudos to Knightley and West, certainly, for doing a great job with their roles. But this was too much like a beautifully costumed and filmed history lesson, and not enough like an engaging story.

Breathtaking

[bashubaent · 10/10 · 8 August 2018]

There aren't many movies that will be so compelling to me that I don't think about the time going by or go to the bathroom or find myself distracted by other things. From the opening scene through to the end credits, Colette was that rare filmgoing experience where I felt every shot, every frame, every moment was essential and compelling. The performances are amazing and this story is absolutely riveting. I can't wait to see it again.

An important figure on several levels

[gradyharp · 7/10 · 22 April 2019]

The fascinating life of Colette, one of the important figures in both literature and gender definition, is brought to the screen by director Wash Westmoreland ('Still Alice', 'Quinceañera', 'Totally Gay') who also wrote the screenplay with Richard Glatzer and Rebecca Lenkiewicz. The result is a visually fine period piece with excellent performances by Keira Knightley and Dominic West yet somehow falls short of its potential by focusing on excesses.

The true story is that of the gifted country girl Gabrielle Colette (Keira Knightley) who is swept off her feet by writer Henry Gautier-Villars (aka Willy), taken to Paris where Willy's philandering and writing needs are a source of contention with his publisher. Discovering that his wife Colette has a gift for writing, Willy talks her into being a ghostwriter for him, successfully publishing a series of books about the life of 'Claudine' - a reflection of Colette's real life. Riding on the success of the venture, Colette begins to acknowledge her desire for female partners, sharing one wealthy American Matilde (Sloan Thompson) with Willy and finally pairing with the wealthy Missy (Denise Gough) in her decision to 'make it on her own' both as a writer and as performer with Missy. To everyone's surprise she uses her fame to advance acceptance of same sex gender identification, unique fashion, and literature by female authors.

The film is enhanced by the musical score by Thomas Adès and the cinematography by Giles Nuttgens. Minor roles are well performed and the overall recreation of Paris at eh turn of the century is excellent. For some reason, despite Keira Knightley's fine acting, the film fails to convince fully, but for the importance of this story on many levels it is a film very much worth viewing.

Surprising

[jorgedeccachefilho · 8/10 · 26 December 2018]

I'm impressed by the sharp script, for me it's a comedy movie which addresses the theme of homosexuality with subtlety. The life of Gabrielle Colette was pretty interesting and I had good impressions about this film, because it can dialogue with different public.

toxic marriage

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 14 December 2018]

It's 1892 France. Struggling self-important writer Willy (Dominic West) woos naive country girl Colette (Keira Knightley). They get married and live in Paris. He wastes their money on his mistress and other things. With their money struggles, he finds her journals and adapt them into a novel. It becomes highly successful and spawns a vast industry. He pushes her to write more material. He has more mistresses and she would have a long term love affair with a divorced woman named Missy. Colette would battle Willy over her authorship on the road to becoming one of France's great female writers.

Right from the start, Willy is an annoying old guy creeping on a young girl. It's toxic from the very beginning. It's an infuriating and tiresome relationship to watch. That's why I would cut out some of their early stuff and bring in Missy earlier. There is more drama to be found in the battle over her authorship. It's a compelling story of female empowerment but it's not a compelling watch. I like Keira in this and Dominic does what's required. This needs to make Willy the full villain and turn up the drama.

Carry on Claudine

[stevenrossiter171 · 5/10 · 10 January 2019]

The acting is of the highest quality and the story itself is a fascinating real life tale. However it is severely let down by its tonal shifts between Jane Eyre like period type drama and Emmanuelle type soft corn pornography sex scenes. The strangest thing with all that is how much it drags and ponders.

As a depiction of love in its true form, lust and the erosion of a devoted love, it's on the money. Keira Knightley and Dominic West are fantastic

So it's a damn shame that it's tone shifts so uncomfortably

Too English

[Sh1sh · 15 January 2020]

Having the film as English originally affected how it flowed and it would've made much more sense to make it in French, especially as Colette writes in French and reads in French throughout the film.

Colette (2018)

[rockman182 · 7/10 · 24 September 2018]

Keira Knightley in a period piece? Seems like a normal thing and she's good at it, so who's complaining? These types of films don't always work for me because a lot of the time they lack substance and really just flaunt their style, location, and costume design. With Colette I was hoping for something different and an enlightening look into the life of an author I knew little about. I ended up being pleasantly surprised with the film and how interesting it was. Side note, is Dominic West just the smug villain all the time these days?

The film is about the life of Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, a 17th century French author and performer and her struggle with life with her domineering husband. She writes books about a character named Claudine (based on her own life) and her husband takes credit for her work. She struggles for independence and eventually fulfills her goals in discovering her own sexuality, performing on stage, and winning back the rights to her own work. Directed by Wash Westmoreland who directed a very solid Still Alice.

No surprise here, Keira Knightley is excellent here. I don't think she can do a bad performance. She lives and breathes every part of Colette. The film has subtle and sly humor and is fairly entertaining throughout. The set design and costumes all breath the would be authenticity of Paris of that time (I mean how would I truly know, right?). I especially liked the Egyptian stage performance scene. The film breathes the embodiment of its time: the style, the class, the debauchery, the seduction, its all there and established well.

The life of Colette is interesting. I'm surprised her husband was so open with her sexuality and her openness to exploring with other women. Otherwise, he's pretty dreadful in a comedic way. The film delivers on what's expected. Its another Knightley affair and one that does what it needs to do very well. A good mix of its style and substance, a period piece that I felt worked.

7/10

Ménage a trois

[Padreviews · 6/10 · 14 January 2019]

Biopics generally make the best films lately even if like I , you knew nothing of the real story in the first place .

Good lead performances by KK & SW - the story is told with a modern slant with female power both from her emergence as the actual writer of her husbands success and her being love interest of the American who shared her bed with both parties .

Although set in Paris you'd actually believe this was about an English couple as the authenticity of their language or accent were too deficient sadly .

It was a power game , a power game between greedy publishers and their writers and between a husband and wife where the real talent had to be hidden due to the world they lived in but she overcame .

The story somewhat reminded me of the female artist who painted her characters with larger than life eyes while her husband took the credit .

A film that you can wait for it to come to small screen and still enjoy

Pad.A 6/10

Worth the watch

[steve_jm_kidd · 7/10 · 10 January 2019]

Should you watch this film? I would say yes. If you saw Big Eyes, it's the same story with a few sexual angles. Dominic West does a perfect Kenneth Branagh Poirot, I consider it reasonably well put together, Kiera Knightly does exactly what she does in every film set 100 years or more ago, and one might almost get some insight into why people would behave the way they do in such situations. I'm not sure it is an empowering film, as the females and underlings seem to get a pretty poor deal, without any satisfying righteous vengeance but... I drivel on. You will know after 30 minutes if you will like it, but I think you have to give it more than 15 for it to get into it's swing. If you want a really fascinating exploration of sexuality and can only afford one film this month, never mind this or The Favourite (both good), watch Welcome To Marwen.

Too English

[trish-fowlie · 7/10 · 22 February 2019]

I was surprised that "Colette" was made as an English film, and I still feel it would have been better as a French one, in spite of considerable efforts having been made to capture the atmosphere of that era. I read the Claudine books at school- the school library wasn't too strict on censorship of novels in French! - Chéri, etc, later and recently a biography (because we were discussing La Maison de Claudine (different from the earlier books) in my French literature class, so I wasn't going to be a casual critic. The film provides a somewhat santitised view of her life, and has important factual errors and omissions- presumably to make her likeable. Colette was an important figure in the French literary and world of her time, however, and it's selling her short (and the viewers) to present her in this impoverished version.

Middle of the road girl power!

[kaptenvideo-89875 · 6/10 · 27 October 2018]

For a 33-year-old British film star, Keira Knightley has had a superb career. She has already starred in a number of well-received and/or successful movies, from indie hits to pure popcorn to dramas.

But still, after 20+ year career and near 100 nominations, there's still no major acting awards. No Oscars, Globes, BAFTAs... even Alliance of Women Film Journalists and British Independent Film Awards have left her cold.

What gives? Everybody knows she can act but maybe she needs to find more remarkable characters to truly make her mark?

These may be the questions Knightley and her agent have faced, because "Colette" seems to be a movie tailored to address these issues.

Above all, it gives her a chance to appear as a strong female figure - historical one, no less, a scandalous sensual writer of 19th century who left his good-for-nothing famous husband, began dressing as a man and sleeping with other girls.

It's also a prestige picture, made for awards season, both looking very glamorous and carrying the always-important topic of girl power. And it's a period piece which Knightley has a lots of experience with anyway. So, win-win from every angle, right?

And it starts strong, it does. Keira looks gorgeous, the whole end of the 19th century Parisian and French life looks fabulous - although it was actually filmed in Hungary. This movie is a looker for sure, Oscar noms for set/art design and costumes seem certain.

Knightley also has a great support in the form of Dominic West as Colette's husband, a party-loving, women-seducing famous author who doesn't actually pen much which is published under his name.

This is untypically flamboyant character for West, and he takes the most of it, becoming the life of the party both in his life and in the movie.

The screen veteran doesn't overshadow or steal Knightley's central place but the result would be much less fun to watch if there was less of him.

Speaking of fun, it should be mentioned that despite its awards aspirations and women's lib theme, "Colette" doesn't take itself very seriously.

It's best described as soap opera with big budget - like a fairy tale for adults, offering some snacks for thought but mainly made for easy watching.

The good thing is that authors have found just a right balance between serious and entertaining, so the movie never drags or gets bogged down by some of its heavier themes such as women's sexuality or position in the society.

The bad thing is that despite its enjoyable performances and intriguing characters, it never delves anything deeper either, not philosophically, not on story level.

Even worse, the authors have had trouble accomodating everything they wanted to show about Colette's life.

Because there's so much content and so little time, the story picks up the tempo at some point and just starts rushing from one important "moment" to the next, not giving anything proper room or time to evolve naturally.

After a while, it gets hard to sense there are real conflicts in heroine's life, because everything always just smoothly falls in its right place, or falls away. Honestly, it would work much better in a longer mini-series or something, with more time to work with.

So, "Colette" may have been devised as Keira Knightley's career's next defining moment but what we get is something rather tame and easily digestible for the YA (young adult) crowd, probably for those who liked "Suffragette" and "Wonder Woman".

So if you like the idea of "strong" female figures but actually care more about their looks, or movie looking beautiful, then you may have found your next favorite eye-candy.

The first part of Colette's career

[jhamiltonhart · 8/10 · 15 November 2019]

The film "Colette" shed an accurately conveyed impression on Willy's influence on Colette. Although he was a manipulative so and so he did bring her talent about. Initially the film is slow and it's not clear where it is heading as there are so many abrupt 'tableaux' transitions. Also it takes a while to accept the casting of Keira Knightley as Colette though it does make sense in the end: in part through the appreciation of her gutsy performance. Colette herself would have appreciated and been flattered. There are probably some inaccuracies in the script and some adaption if the timeline but if it adds to the storytelling it is fine.

A slow burner at first but appreciated after all. Sequels would be welcome since this film only encompasses the first stage of Colette's career.

Difficult

[psparry · 6/10 · 10 January 2019]

Well acted portrayal of a bunch of self-indulgent nitwits.

Women stand up to men

[rpabstnm20 · 8/10 · 23 March 2020]

Nice movie - like the fact that women stand up to men

Another Solid Period Piece From Knightley

[ThomasDrufke · 7/10 · 21 October 2018]

Death, Taxes, and the fact that Keira Knightley likes to play in period pieces. It's just about the most certain thing in Hollywood that we will get at least one of those every year or two. And to be clear, she's damn good at playing in them. Colette tells the story of an unappreciated wife and author in a time when women were given far less rights and credit than they are now (and it's still not at equal part today). When these types of films come along whether it be about women's rights or something related to race, it really opens your eye to how far we have to come. And we should always appreciate the stories that give us insight to a time when it was even more difficult for the voiceless to be granted a voice. Based on a fascinating true story, Colette makes for a great showcase of Knightley's range and ability to create a subtle power and tension over those who try to bring her down.

7.4/10

Claudine à la Multiplex

[johnpmoseley · 4/10 · 12 January 2019]

Four out of ten stars, a near average score for an average movie. It's perfectly watchable, but as cardboard cutout flat as most biopics, full of the kind of supposedly key material events that are meant to turn something as amorphous and strange as a life into a story. Short, bureaucratically efficient dialogues ensure all this fits a standard running time, never digressive or very psychological and never distinguished by visual flair or intelligence. This is all normal.

But I've subtracted a star from what would have been a straight middling score - and kind of feel like taking off more - for giving such a standard workmanlike treatment to this particular material. Who sets a film in the Belle Époque and makes it so relentlessly un-belle?

Some of the open goals are like abysses. A character refers to the art nouveau pieces in her own flat, which she is standing in, yet we barely see them. We get a tiny nod to the tendency in the jewelled tortoise, lifted from Huysman's novel of the period, À Rebours, at a society soirée, but though the animal is important to the protagonist (she says it's the only thing she liked at the party) it seems not to be to the director, who barely bothers with it. We hear later from Colette that the other guests were decadent phonies, locked into extravagant self-promoting personae - just the types an art nouveau artist like Beardsley or a post-impressionist like Lautrec would have gone to town with - but there is no showing, only telling. At the time the guests seemed perfectly normal.

It's the era of new technologies like street lighting, electric light in homes, which gets a brief mention, and, of course, still photography and cinema - all of which also might have informed the look of the thing, if only to make the dark tones darker and give the image a grain. Instead the film looks professionally lit in the worst way, low contrast and colouristically anaemic.

What's the point of a film about an artist with so little artistry to it? What's the good of giving such a dry stick of a thing to audiences who presumably went in because they were interested in art?

Nothing like you think Colette was

[glaconti-350-5704 · 15 December 2018]

This movie is downright depressing. Keira Knightly was playing some other character, not as I always envisioned Colette from her novels, Cherie and The Last of Cherie, not to mention her stage play Gigi. Should have given this movie another title.