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United Kingdom, United States · 2018
Rated R · 1h 52m
Director Wash Westmoreland
Starring Keira Knightley, Dominic West, Denise Gough, Fiona Shaw
Genre Drama, History
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After marrying a successful Parisian writer Willy, Colette is transplanted from her childhood home in rural France to the intellectual and artistic capital of Paris. 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.
Colette is a costume drama for people who have yet to figure out that they love costume dramas. It’s fleet enough after that first act, and the squeezed plotting of its second half ensures the story never gets too long in the tooth.
New York Magazine (Vulture) by Emily Yoshida
Politeness may be the film’s weakest point, whether with its characters or bedroom scenes. But it’s hardly something to complain about, especially when the company is this lively.
The Hollywood Reporter by John DeFore
It is an engaging literary coming-of-age story, and one embodied ably by its star.
The Guardian by Jordan Hoffman
Wash Westmoreland’s Colette is exhilarating, funny, inspiring and (remember: corsets!) gorgeous, too.
If only more period pieces these days were as finely tuned and accessibly pleasurable as Westmoreland’s film.
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Kate Taylor
Colette is a satisfyingly conventional biopic about a highly unconventional woman.
Less stuffy literary biopic than ever-relevant female-empowerment saga, Colette ranks as one of the great roles for which Keira Knightley will be remembered.
Slant Magazine by Peter Goldberg
It's the film's concerted emphasis on Colette's ambivalent nature and desires that reveals her to be an artist just ahead of her time, fighting against, yet seduced by, her present.
I love how open and casual this film is about Colette’s budding queerness, how it eschews any awkward coming out or pains-of-the-closet stuff. Instead it simply revels in Colette’s sexual and romantic freedom, suggesting that it was just that looseness, that liberation that gave her writing such verve.
Screen International by Tim Grierson
Although director Wash Westmoreland tackles several serious subjects — sexual liberation, the repression of women’s voices, the power of art to change society — the movie has such a playful spirit that the talking points go down smoothly.
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I stumbled upon this film incidentally, and as a fan of Keira Knightley, decided to give it a shot. I didn't know what to expect, and was fully engrossed throughout the film. Colette is a truly uplifting film of taking back one's voice, especially in a society where one is told not to speak.