COLETTE (15)
COLETTE lovingly details the true story of the French novelist, who challenged the supposed limitations of her gender in early 20th-century Paris.
The film is a handsomely appointed battle of words between Keira Knightley’s dutiful wife turned trailblazer and Dominic West’s domineering husband.
Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (Knightley) marries well regarded author Henry GauthierVillars (West), who operates under the pen name Willy. He is under intense pressure to deliver a new work but prefers to devote his time to dalliances rather than penmanship or his wife.
When Willy discovers Colette’s gift with words, he encourages her to document her formative years on the page and takes credit for her first book, Claudine A L’Ecole.
The saucy tale of a 15-year-old girl’s rites of passage becomes a sensation and Henry encourages Colette to pen further adventures for her heroine, Claudine.
Over time, she becomes frustrated that only Willy visibly profits from her ink-stained hours of toil.
The aggrieved wife refuses to remain silent and speaks out with support from lover, noblewoman Mathilde de Morny (Denise Gough).
Beautifully shot, Knightley and West are delightful sparring partners and Gough brings a slow-burning intensity to her gender fluid paramour.