Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
After marrying a successful Parisian writer known commonly as Willy, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette is transplanted from her childhood home in rural France to the intellectual and artistic splendor of Paris. Soon after, Willy convinces Colette to ghostwrite for him. She pens a semi-autobiographical novel about a witty and brazen country girl named Claudine, sparking a bestseller and a cultural sensation. After its success, Colette and Willy become the talk of Paris and their adventures inspire additional Claudine novels.
Colette (2018) is a competent but somewhat conventional biopic. The plot covers Colette's awakening as a writer and her fight for creative and personal autonomy in a fairly linear, episodic fashion — engaging but rarely surprising. Keira Knightley brings presence and commitment to the title role, and Dominic West is effectively oily as Willy, but the supporting cast is serviceable rather than exceptional. Cinematography is handsome period work — lush Parisian interiors and countryside — though nothing especially distinctive. As a biopic it follows familiar genre beats: oppressed genius fights for recognition, identity, freedom. The LGBT and gender-nonconforming elements add some texture but the overall structure is well-trodden. The ending, depicting Colette's eventual reclaiming of her name, feels somewhat rushed and anticlimactic rather than emotionally satisfying, leaving the full arc of her remarkable life underexplored.