It's the hand that holds the pen that writes history

Continuing my trip up The Guardians Top 50 Films of 2019

#43 : Colette

Kinky and invigorating, Keira Knightley and Dominic West make a fascinating married couple in this biopic – released last January – of the much-wronged French novelist.

I've heard of this and I know it got good reviews, but I can't say I'd have watched it under normal circumstances.  I'm expecting something well acted, beautifully shot and with gorgeous retro details but struggling to hold my attention.  Happy to be proved wrong though...

Hmmm - it's an odd one.  It's an interesting story, which is indeed beautifully shot with gorgeous retro details.  And, I'm pleased to say it didn't struggle to hold my attention - however, probably not for the reasons it was hoping for.  Partly, as I said, because it's an interesting story but also because it's not a very well written film.  It just jumps all over the place and characters behave for the oddest reasons without any obvious motivation.  It's also full of things that are absolutely signposted, often by someone saying "this is never going to happen" - five seconds before it does.  It's also, not unsurprisingly for a film set in turn of the century Paris, not a very subtle film.  It does feature men riding penny farthings though - you can never argue with that kind of action.

It is well acted, but I'd struggle to say either Keira or Dominic are exactly pushed by their roles.  Everyone else is fine, but somewhat overshadowed by our star pairing - it features a lot of people you'll recognise from other things in small roles.  And I can't really think of anything more to say than that.  In a similar brief vein, I'd say it's a well shot film - lovely retro features and sets and it's well lit, but it's not exactly pushing boundaries in any direction.  And, errr - that's it.

One final complaint having checked out Wikipedia is that although the film tells an interesting story about her life, it only covers the first half of her life which features just one of her three marriages, with the second one ending "partly to his infidelities and partly to her affair with her 16-year-old stepson".  She was later considered to be France's greatest woman writer, writing through the second world war (including "Gigi", her most famous work), nominated for the Nobel Prize and becoming the first "women of letters" (as Wikipedia puts it) to be given a state funeral.  None of which is even mentioned in even the end messages of the film.

Overall, it's not a terrible film with the actors doing their best to redeem it, but it feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity.  Having said that, I was pleased to be educated about Colette by it (and, to a greater extent, by Wikipedia) - she had a fascinating life.  If you're keen to watch the film after that glowing recommendation then it's still available to rent in all the usual locations.

And with that, we come to a break on films from 2019 because The Guardian have started their best films of 2022 - I'll be back in 2019 when I've finished that list (which will be October/November if this year is anything to go by).

#44 - A whole lot of fun
#39 - Surprisingly watchable nonsense