KEIRA KNIGHTLEY LOOKS TO COLETTE FOR COURAGE
Keira Knightley s'inspire du courage de Colette
Dans Colette, en salles le 16 janvier, Keira Knightley incarne la célèbre romancière française de la première moitié du XXe siècle. Alors qu’elle découvre le milieu artistique parisien, Colette se heurte aux exigences de son mari, « Willy » (Dominic West), lui-même auteur-coqueluche de son époque et séducteur invétéré. Une fois de plus, la pétillante actrice anglaise transforme l’essai. Rencontre.
TORONTO — At first, Keira Knightley thought everything was going to be fine. Her pregnancy had been delightful, so she’d give birth to her first child and then continue working at her normal pace. A Broadway show and two films in a year? Try her. But after Knightley had her daughter, Edie, things didn’t go according to plan. She was hormonal, for one. And tired. Because Edie never seemed to sleep. Still, she intended to keep her obligations. She performed eight times a week in a stage production of Therese Raquin and then filmed a supporting role in the drama Collateral Beauty. 2. But in the summer of 2016, staring down the lead role in the period drama Colette, Knightley decided she needed a break. “I was like, ‘I can’t. I literally can’t,’” the actress said. “I am so tired. I am so hormonal. I can’t deal with this big character right now. So they very sweetly said, ‘We’ll put it off for a year.’”
MOTHERHOOD
3. Director Wash Westmoreland wasn’t exactly thrilled to push the start date on Colette — “no one welcomes that news,” he said — but that delay ended up being “the best thing that ever happened.” The filmmaker was able to spend the year finessing the script about the renowned French novelist, who initially wrote under her husband’s name until her work became so successful in the early 1900s that she fought for recognition.
4. Sitting in a hotel conference room, her Chanel flats looking almost too nice against the
>>> brashly patterned carpet, Knightley has delved into discussing motherhood even though it’s a topic she thinks the media generally mishandles. Knightley spends a lot of time thinking about gender roles. Growing up, when she began to think about an acting career, it was the male parts she dreamt of having. At age 12, she spent one summer obsessively watching The Godfather, dreaming of playing Michael Corleone. She liked that he was a morally ambiguous hero.
FINDING A HEROINE
5. “So I’ve always been looking for my heroes. I know the guys, but I don’t know the women,” she said. “I’m using heroes instead of heroines, because in my head, heroines are still second to a man.” Colette, she felt, was a hero. Knightley wanted a bit of her courage and felt like she was “standing tall” when she embodied her.
6. “Women feel shame or that we should hide in so many ways — parts of our personality that aren’t feminine enough or what we’re meant to be,” she said. “And with Colette, she just went, ‘Boom, this is what I am.’ I love that. I don’t think I’m that strong. I think I’ve still got a bit of, ‘Oh, (hell). I want to say the right thing.’” In the past year, in particular, Knightley said she’s been grappling with how much to use her voice. She’s happy to be asked about “more than lip gloss” — she’s been a face of Chanel for a decade now — but it’s new to her.
7. “The idea five years ago of being political in an interview — you would never,” she said. “And now suddenly, the world is a political place with Brexit in England, with Trump.” And the #MeToo movement. Knightley said she attended two Time’s Up meetings in the U.K., which she found interesting. But she felt slightly out of place. “They’re amazing women, but I’m, like, ‘Holy (crap), they’re really proactive and organized, and I’m just not,’”she said.
brashly ici, trop voyant, tape-à-l'oeil / patterned à motifs / carpet moquette / to delve into plonger dans, creuser (ici, into discussing… la question de…) / topic sujet, thème, question / to mishandle ici, mal traiter, traiter avec maladresse / part ici, rôle / The Godfather (VF) Le Parrain.
5. ...are still second to... sont toujours moins bien considérées que... / to stand, stood, stood tall être fier et déterminé, garder la tête haute / to embody incarner.
6. shame honte / to be meant to être censé, supposé / to grapple with lutter (pour savoir) / lip gloss brillant à lèvres / decade décennie.
7. to attend assister/participer à / slightly légèrement, quelque peu / amazing incroyable, extraordinaire / Holy crap ici, Oh mon Dieu !.
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BEGINNINGS
8. Knightley was a teenager when she first garnered public acclaim in the 2002 soccer film Bend It Like Beckham, and a year later became a household name after she was cast in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Meanwhile, Knightley has earned a reputation for playing the leading lady in period dramas such as Pride & Prejudice, which brought her an Oscar nomination in 2006, and Atonement — something she returns to with Colette.
SHE’S NOT NOSTALGIC
9. She doesn’t know why she’s offered so many period films — “I think I just look good in very big dresses,” she said with a laugh. She isn’t some hopeful time traveler who looks at the past through rose-colored glasses: “And have pleurisy and die of scarlet fever and have (feces) rolling down the floor? No, I think the reality of any of those times before public health and women’s right to choose were pretty … brutal.”
10. But she tends to find that period films feature more interesting female characters who aren’t just window dressing or exploitation fodder. “A lot of the characters that I’ve been offered — which doesn’t mean that that’s the only characters out there in modern-day
8. to garner public acclaim être plébiscité / soccer = football (GB) / Bend It Like Beckham (VF) Joue-la comme Beckham / household name nom connu de tous, célèbre / to be cast être choisi (pour un rôle, pour jouer dans) / meanwhile parallèlement / to earn gagner; ici, se faire / Pride and Prejudice (VF) Orgueil et Préjugés / to bring, brought, brought ici, valoir / Atonement (VF) Reviens-moi.
9. to look at sth through rose-colored glasses voir qqch. en rose, sous un jour optimiste / scarlet fever scarlatine / feces (US) = faeces (GB) excréments / health santé / pretty ici, plutôt.
10. to feature comprendre, comporter / window dressing potiche / fodder ici, sujet, matière / pieces — have either been the wife, the girlfriend or the sexy rape victim,” she said. “I’m all up for a story if it’s really looking at rape and the consequences — but what I felt with some of the stories I was offered was it was purely for titillation.”
11. Asked if she’s felt an increasing sense of power in the industry as she’s aged, the actress said she’s noticed in the last five years that “people think I’m good at what I do.” “Whereas before, it was like, ‘She’s just a pretty face and she can’t do that,’ “said Knightley, who was nominated for a second Oscar in 2014 for her supporting turn in The Imitation Game. “There’s been a switch, and I feel quite good about that. There was a moment where it didn’t feel like that was gonna happen.”
Opiece ici, film / rape viol / to be up for être partant pour / titillation émoustillement, excitation. 11. increasing croissant, grandissant / sense sentiment / industry ici, industrie cinématographique / to notice remarquer, constater / turn ici, rôle / switch ici, tournant / gonna = going to.