Colette (2018)

A young country girl (Keira Knightley) marries an older man (Dominic West) from Paris. After their marriage, she blossoms into a talented writer and Bohemian free spirit. But her writing which is enormously successful is published under her husband's name and she begins to chafe at his insensitivity. Based on the life of the French novelist Colette (GIGI) and directed by Wash Westmoreland (STILL ALICE). Anyone expecting a tasteful (as in stuffy) and proper period film a la Masterpiece Theater had better think again! This isn't a film designed for blue haired ladies. It's a vibrant and very relevant piece dealing with gender fluidity and alpha male suppression. But it doesn't preach us down with it, it's marvelously entertaining. Coincidentally, it touches on areas also dealt with in the recent film THE WIFE but while Knightley, who's excellent, may not reach the acting heights of Glenn Close, it's a much better film. Handsomely shot with Budapest standing in for Paris and an excellent score by Thomas Ades, a period piece about a woman writer in turn of the century Paris may be a hard sell but the reviews have been good so I hope this movie finds an audience, it deserves it. With Fiona Shaw, Denise Gough and Eleanor Tomlinson.