COLETTE – Review

(left) Dickie Beau stars as Wague and (ctr) Keira Knightley as Colette in COLETTE, a Bleecker Street release. Photo credit: Robert Viglasky / Bleecker Street

Keira Knightley stars as French novelist Colette in director Wash Westmoreland’s gorgeous and gripping period biopic COLETTE. What a marvelous film!

In late 19th- early20th century Paris, Colette broke barriers of all sorts for women. Although the story is set in Paris more than a century ago, this tale of a woman’s awakening to her own worth, her struggle to be free and be herself, and to be recognized for her own work is as thrilling as ever, and surprisingly timely.

Although the film is about a French writer, Westmoreland’s film is mostly in English. The film is a take on Colette as a feminist icon. Those who might quibble that Colette was not a feminist as much as just a woman who just wanted credit for her work, should note this is not a documentary but a narrative film. Some liberties are allowed.

Colette’s story makes for a rousing tale. The story focuses on the writer’s early years. starting with the marriage of country girl Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (Keira Knightley) to the older, famous Parisian writer known as Willy (Dominic West). Colette comes from a country family of good name but no money, so her disabled war-hero father Jules (Robert Pugh) is pleased to marry her off to a famous author. She is close to her father and mother Sido (Fiona Shaw), and sister Meg (Shannon Tarbet) but even in the country, Sidonie has a wild side.

Willy introduces his young country-girl wife to the wealthy salons and wild behavior of artistic Bohemian Paris, a world she take to quickly. Just as quickly, Colette learns that her husband’s freewheeling spending means they are always on the verge of bankruptcy.

Willy may have once been an author but now he is more of a celebrity brand, paying a stable of ghostwriters to churn out material under his name, while he lives high. Soon Colette is recruited to join the ranks of ghostwriters.

Willy mines his wife’s entertaining tales of her schoolgirl days for a novel they co-write but publish under his name. When “Claudine” becomes a huge hit, it alters their life and turns their marriage into a prison from which Colette must escape.

Knightley delivers a splendid performance, taking Colette from a country girl with brains to a worldly woman who was the most popular French woman author of her time, shattering barriers as she rose. Dominic West is very good as her husband, the charming manipulative Willy, who lost no time adding his wife to his stable of supporters. Willy professes his love for Colette repeatedly but he also locks her in her room to force her to write the next novel to fund his free-spending ways.

While Knightley is the brightest light in this well-crafted historical drama, all the cast turn in fine performances. Aiysha Hart is particularly good as Polaire, the actress who brings Colette’s character Claudine to life on stage. Colette’s and Willy’s daily lives include Willy’s ever-present backers and ghostwriters, with Al Weaver appearing as Schwob and Dickie Beau as Wague. Among their social circle are many glittering, interesting people, including Gaston and Jeanne De Caillavet (Jake Graf and Janine Harouni) and the new wife of an aging aristocrat, American heiress Georgie Raoul-Duval (Eleanor Tomlison). They also meet Marquise de Belbeuf, who goes by Missy (Denise Gough), an aristocratic woman who dresses in men’s clothing and embraces an non-conformist lifestyle, and who has a profound effect on their lives.

The period sets and costumes have all the authenticity one could hope for, and add a lush beauty to Giles Nuttens’ painterly cinematography.

As a historical drama that hits all the marks for acting, story and sheer visual delight, COLETTE is not to be missed. Colette opens Friday, Sept. 28, at the Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

RATING: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars