Colette (2018)

Movie
Original title	Colette
Country of production	Hungary , USA , ; UK
original language	English
Publishing year	2018
length	112 minutes
Age rating	FSK 6
Rod
Director	Wash Westmoreland
script	Richard Glatzer , ; Rebecca Lenkiewicz , ; Wash Westmoreland
production	Elizabeth Karlsen , ; Pamela Koffler , ; Michel Litvak , ; Christine Vachon , ; Gary Michael Walters , ; Stephen Woolley
music	Thomas Adès
camera	Giles Nuttgens
cut	Lucia Zucchetti
occupation
	Keira Knightley : Colette ; Dominic West : Willy ; Eleanor Tomlinson : Georgie Raoul-Duval; Aiysha Hart : Polaire ; Fiona Shaw : Sido; Denise Gough : Mathilde de Morny ("Missy"); Robert Pugh : Jules; Rebecca Root : Rachilde ; Jake Graf : Gaston de Caillavet ; Julian Wadham : Ollendorff; Ray Panthaki : Veber; Masayoshi Haneda : Baptiste; Caroline Boulton : Flossy; Shannon Tarbet : Meg; Attila C. Arpa : Heckler;

Colette is a film drama directed by Wash Westmoreland that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2018 and was released in selected US theaters on September 21, 2018. The film opened in German cinemas on January 3, 2019. The biopic is about the life of the French writer, variety artist and journalist Colette . The feminist pioneer and author of several autobiographical stories had to fight for the recognition she deserved throughout her life.

action

After marrying a successful Parisian writer and theater critic known as Willy, Gabrielle-Sidonie Colette came from her home in rural France to Paris at the end of the 19th century, the city of many intellectuals and full of artistic splendor. Together they take part in all kinds of social events.

Willy lets his extensive team of authors write his novels and publishes them under his well-known name. When Willy is caught by his wife at a prostitute one day , he tries to explain to her that this is completely normal for a man, but Gabrielle returns to her parents' house in the country. Everything didn't turn out the way she imagined. When Willy visits his wife there and tells how much he misses her, she only agrees to return to Paris with him if he no longer lies to her and shares everything with her.

One day in 1895 Willy can no longer pay his employees and so it becomes necessary to do better housekeeping. He convinces his wife to work as a ghostwriter for him . When he reads her first manuscript , a semi-autobiographical novel about a funny and bold country woman named Claudine, he finds her work beautiful, but too feminine and does not want to publish it. She decides to shorten her name to Colette. At a social occasion, Willy shows signs of jealousy about a male guest. Colette calms him down by telling him that she was more interested in his wife that evening. When a bailiff came to pick up Willy's desk one day , he found his wife's almost forgotten work in it. Together they revise the manuscript and put Claudine's story into print under his name. The book is celebrated, becomes a bestseller, and Colette and Willy become the talking point of Paris.

Willy tries to keep the secret of the true authorship so as not to endanger the success of the novel. However, he surprises his wife with a house in the country that he bought for her and where she can write in peace. Willy has already announced a sequel to his publisher . When Colette doesn't find the leisure to write herself, he locks her in a room to force her to write. Colette is writing the book.

In 1900 Willy and Colette meet Georgie Raoul-Duval, who lives in Paris. He quickly notices that the American is showing interest in his wife. With her husband's blessing, Colette begins an affair with Georgie, but he too seeks her closeness. Georgie takes turns sharing the bed with Colette and Willy, respectively, until Colette catches the two of them one day. She digests what happened by writing the third part of her story about Claudine: Claudine en Ménage .

Three years later, the story of Claudine will also be brought to the stage as a play. A certain Polaire bravely introduces herself as the only true Claudine for the lead role. The play about the character invented by Colette is a great success and Claudine becomes a role model. The women of Paris begin their hair to the length cutting Polaire to leave and access Claudine - personal care products . Colette makes the acquaintance of the noble Marquise Mathilde de Morny, who dresses like a man and is called Missy. Like Willy's publisher Ollendorff, who recognized that the novels were inspired by Colette's life in the country, Missy quickly understands that Colette is the inventor of Claudine. An impending relationship between Missy and his wife seems to be in order for Willy, since the young Meg has now entered his life.

Colette prepares for a performance. When Missy and Colette kiss at the premiere at the Moulin Rouge, it comes to a scandal: the divided audience begins to fight. The show is then canceled, which throws Willy into financial ruin. Inspired by Missy's demeanor, Colette now dresses like a man in public. She wants her name on her novels now. Her mother also motivates her to use her talent and write a new book, this time under her name. Willy confesses financial problems and wants to sell Colette's house. She agrees. When Colette finds out that he has also sold the rights to the Claudine novels, she is deeply injured. She compares the novels with a child together, without whom their relationship is no longer possible. Colette leaves Willy and writes a new book, La Vagabonde , based on her experiences as a variety artist .

Biographical

The biography is about the life of the French writer Colette

Colette was a French writer, variety artist, and journalist. On a trip to Paris in 1889, at the age of 16, she met Henry Gauthier-Villars , who was almost twice her age and who had made a name for himself as a journalist and writer under the pseudonym Willy. In 1893 she married him. He quickly recognized her talent and from 1896 had her write a series of increasingly successful novels under his pseudonym , which tell the story of a young woman in the first person and with many autobiographical elements: Claudine à l'École, Claudine à Paris, Claudine en Ménage and Claudine s'en va , which in the German translation were published as Claudine awakens, Claudine in Paris, Claudine in marriage and Claudine goes .

Reto Baer from SRF comments: “ At the beginning of the 20th century, your Claudine novels had a similarly strong effect on young women as Goethe's Die Leiden des Junge Werther had on men more than 100 years earlier .” She and Willy lived well from Claudine as a product, as well as from book sales the merchandise. Claudine soaps were even made in this way, and the white collars on clothes are still called Claudine collars .

Later, Colette appeared on numerous vaudeville stages in Paris and the provinces together with Mathilde, who was ten years her senior, called "Missy", the very unconventionally living daughter of a half-brother of Napoléon III. When the two kissed at the Moulin Rouge in 1907 while a pantomime was performed called Rêve d'Égypte , there was a commotion that the police had to be called to settle. The play was canceled as a result of the scandal. Colette and Missy could only continue their relationship undercover. In 1909, Colette began another autobiographical novel, La Vagabonde ("The Vagabond"), in which she depicts the existence of a disappointed divorced wife, variety artist and adored of a wealthy heir in the first person.

The film saves the events after Colette's separation from her husband. She later became the great old lady of French literature of the first half of the century, wrote and published, was read and filmed, gave lectures and traveled, honored like hardly any other writer before her. In 1945 she became the second woman to be one of the ten members of the Académie Goncourt , and in 1949 its chairman. Colette died in 1954 and was the first woman in France to have a state funeral.

production

Staff, cast and dubbing

Wash Westmoreland directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay with Richard Glatzer and Rebecca Lenkiewicz . In preparation, Westmoreland and his fellow screenwriters had looked at Colette and Missy's correspondence, their private letters. These are really interesting in that they have used both “she” and “he” and both male and female grammatical constructions in French, suggesting a kind of lesbian intimacy in their relationship, Westmoreland said. Colette was a radical, future-oriented woman who challenged the conventions of her time. The film should fully reflect that, the director continues.

Keira Knightley can be seen in the title role as Colette . Dominic West took on the role of her husband Willy, Eleanor Tomlinson plays Georgie Raoul-Duval, with whom both begin a friendship. Fiona Shaw , Ray Panthaki , Aiysha Hart , Denise Gough , Robert Pugh and Masayoshi Haneda can also be seen in other roles .

The German synchronization was based on a dialogue book and the dialogue direction by Heike Kospach on behalf of Berliner Synchron GmbH Wenzel Lüdecke. Dascha Lehmann lends her voice to Colette in the German version and Leon Boden to her husband Willy.

Filming and film music

Filming took place in Hungary's capital Budapest and at Cogges Manor Farm in Witney, Oxfordshire. Andrea Flesch was responsible for the design of the costumes .

The film music was composed by Thomas Adès . It is the first work by the British opera composer specifically for a film. Peter Debruge from Variety thinks the music is one of the great strengths of the film: “The entire film appears brighter thanks to Adès' nimble piano and the presence of string work and guides us through many elegantly photographed, Merchant Ivory- like scenes in which stuffy snobs in The soundtrack to the film, which includes a total of 26 pieces of music, including pieces by Camille Saint-Saëns , Erik Satie and Claude Debussy , was released on December 7, 2018 as a download from Lakeshore Records.

Marketing and Publishing

The film premiered on January 20, 2018 at the Sundance Film Festival . The first trailer was presented in July 2018. The film was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2018 and was released in selected US cinemas on September 21, 2018. In autumn 2018 there was also a screening at the Zurich Film Festival . On January 3, 2019, DCM released the film in German and Swiss cinemas.

reception

Age rating

In the USA, the film received an R rating from the MPAA , which corresponds to a rating of 17 and over. In Germany it was approved by the FSK from the age of 6. In the statement of reasons for the release it says: “The film is mostly calm and told with a lot of time coloring, whereby the staging is very cautious, even with individual erotic scenes . The complex story offers very young viewers hardly any points of contact, many conflicts do not open up to them, which is why the sometimes fierce arguments between the married couple can overwhelm children of preschool age. "

Reviews and grossing results

The film has so far won over 87 percent of all Rotten Tomatoes critics and received an average rating of 7.3 out of a possible 10 points.

Nick Allen, a film critic for RogerEbert.com, said the film was more than due in 2018 and that Colette , at the center, was a thought leader in more ways than one.

Variety's Peter Debruge says films devoted to the lives of writers tend to be content with courting well-read older audiences, but director Wash Westmoreland clearly hopes that Colette's story speaks to and inspires young women, much like hers most popular character Claudine at the time: "Although the genre is so often boring, this is not the case, thanks in large part to its leading lady." Westmoreland effectively dodged the pitfalls of drama over historical material by demonstrating that Colette's steps on the way to equality were among the first in the women's movement that continues to this day.

Reto Baer from SRF remarks that although Colette is formally like a conventional costume film , its content is convincing as a fast-paced story of emancipation . The director wrote an entertaining and knowledgeable screenplay with his partner Richard Glatzer, who has since passed away , and the cast is ideal right down to the supporting roles: “ Keira Knightley's mime play alone is worth the entry fee. And Dominic West convinces as Colette's power-hungry opponent. "

Anna Wollner from NDR Info notes that Knightley plays Colette mischievously and rebelliously, like a historical forerunner of today's #MeToo movement : “Collete never falls into a victim role, but is always self-confident and goal-oriented. The film is a portrait of a modern icon who is still a role model today. Not just for young women. "

Jenni Zylka comments in her review on Spiegel Online : “Director Wash Westmoreland, who cast the film about the French national literary heroine with British, tells the self-discovery path of his protagonist closely following the story of the Claudine novels.” Zylka's summary: “That The life of the writer and actress Colette was so scandalous that her film portrait can hardly keep up. Even Keira Knightley playing with verve can do little to change this in this costume film. "

The film recorded 134,428 visitors in Germany.

Comparison with other films and zeitgeist

Gunda Bartels identified a trend in the Tagesspiegel : “First Mary Shelley , now Colette : At the turn of the year, the biographies of writers jostle in the cinema. The industry is increasingly discovering the female view of history, including the appreciation of their cultural and political heroines. A biopic about Maria Stuart will follow in two weeks. "

The French author Annabelle Hirsch is outraged for a while that the film is once again telling the life and art of a famous woman about her love for a man: “ With this non-conventional story, Colette joins a number of other biopics of recent years : Paula on Paula Modersohn-Becker, Coco Chanel. The beginning of a passion about the French fashion designer, queen of the desert about the adventure Gertrude Bell or, most recently, Astrid about Astrid Lindgren's youth. All these films follow a similar narrative structure: pretty young girl meets a man, falls in love, experiences her first disappointment through him, decides not to put up with that, channels the anger into her art and, as if by a miracle, something grandiose emerges . "

In an interview with Andrea Gerk on Deutschlandfunk, Sonja Hartl comes to a sober insight with regard to new films about women writers: "They show that the problems for women who write have hardly changed."