Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, known as Colette, was a noted French author of the first half of the 20th century, who went on to gain fame as an actor and journalist. Her most well-known works are the Claudine stories, and novella Gigi, upon which the movie and musical are based. She was nominated for a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948. Her life and career were larger than life – as so many of the talents that inhabited pre-war Paris seem to have been.
The movie Colette, starring Keira Knightley and Dominic West was a surprisingly excellent retelling of her early career. Beginning with her marriage to Henry Gauthier-Villars, known as “Willy” and her writing under his name, it follows her through their turbulent years together, the popularity of the Claudine stories, their mutual affair with a visiting American woman, the break up of their marriage and ends with Colette touring Europe as an actress with her lover Mathilde de Morny, known as Missy, who was scandalous for wearing men’s clothes, portrayed by Denise Gough.
As you may know, I do not sleep on the plane very well so, with almost 30 hours to kill on the roundtrip to and from Japan, I take some time to watch movies, which I otherwise would not sit through. I watched 5 movies all the way through and 2 I started but did not finish. (The remainder of the movies mini-reviews will be in the postscript.)
Because I really don’t like movies, I’m predisposed to being disappointed when I watch them. Colette did not suck. Her bisexuality was neither erased nor fetishized, her passion for writing and creating centered. Paris was not portrayed as all-white, for which I am grateful. The writing was a bit predictable, but at this point, movies just are. Her life is well-known, this movie makes no pretense to insight. It’s just a retelling of the woman’s young life as highlights. IMHO, Knightley does a fine job of plucky young author, Dominic West did a fine job as Kenneth Brannagh as Willy, and while the beginning had a slow start, by the end, I found I had enjoyed it.
Ratings:
Cinematography – 7 Honestly, a bit conservative
Acting – 8 As one would expect
Story – 7
Queerness – 7
Overall-8
For a reasonably accurate and very pretty movie about one of the Belle Époque‘s most famous women of letters, Colette was a decent watch.
Here are mini reviews of the other movies I watched this time around:
Ant-Man and the Wasp: What a shocker to me that I enjoyed it. I cannot stand Paul Rudd or the type of character he plays, so I was amazed that I didn’t hate the movie, but I actually enjoyed it. I can’t remember any of it now. I thought they did a decent job of showing Hank as a narcissistic asshole, which is how I think of him.
Crazy Rich Asians: Not a fan of rom-coms, (this is a minimalist statement, they make me want to claw my eyes out) but the acting was *superb.*
The Four Heavenly Kings: The acting for this was the opposite of superb. But Detective Dee and Tsui Hark, so I forgave a lot. Like, really, the whole movie really needs to be forgiven.
Ocean’s 8: Thoroughly enjoyable nonsense. Between this and CRA, Awkafina may be my new favorite actress ever.
I started but did not finish Along with the Gods a Korean action flick and The Great Battle, a Korean historical action movie. Along with the Gods I just couldn’t follow, but turns out (thanks, Richmond!) that this is the second part of a two-parter. The Great Battle was fun, but we landed before the climactic scene. So, I looked it up to find out what happened historically and boy was I surprised to learn the ending. ^_^ I’d recommend this one.
One of the ways artists in Japan build up their professional chops is through doujinshi. Because these self-published or small press books must be completed to deadline and have print runs and sales that can be measured, the comic markets at which they are sold make a very useful proving ground for amateur creators – and a healthy space for self-expression for professionals whose creations must conform to editorial guidance, house style and magazine popularity.
