Colette (2018)

Keira Knightley seems to always find herself in period pieces and her recent title role as real life 19th century writer Gabrielle Colette here sees her yet again comfortably fitting in to the period drama. Colette portrays yet another strong feminist whose style as a writer was shadowed by her being a ghost writer to her husband who of course ends up getting all the fame and honours when her stories became best sellers in 19th century France. The plot sounds familiar as females seem to always get shortchanged or ignored as serious writers in the past.

To be honest, I did find the pace of the movie a bit slow and I was struggling to keep awake a few times. However, on the plus side, the story is still a worthwhile watch simply because it is based on real life people and it is fascinating to see how Colette's character progress from a simple naïve country girl to a strong minded independent woman by the film's end. She would have done well in today's women movements. The costumes and settings were also top notched.

The real Gabrielle Colette!

Of course what's the point if there is nothing scandalous to spice things up right? Colette and her husband Willy (played by Dominic West) certainly are shown to have led a flamboyant lifestyle ranging from sharing of sex partners, to affairs with androgynous lovers. Scandalous even by today's standards, all in the name of doing their part to get ideas for their next best seller. I understand that the film has portrayed Colette as a more sympathetic person and someone the viewer can root for, whereas in real life she was likely to be far more of a bitch and selfish. Perhaps I might have found this more engaging if the film makers had chosen another path to portray her even darker side! However, don't let my comments here deter you from watching if you like period dramas, which are definitely more worthy detractions than any super hero movies.