We’ve been looking forward to Colette (2018), the biopic about the French author (born Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, 1873-1954) of works including Gigi and Chéri. Keira Knightley stars, with Dominic West (The Hour, The Devil’s Whore) as her husband Willy and Eleanor Tomlinson (Poldark, Death Comes to Pemberley, The White Queen) as a potential love interest. The film is set during their marriage, which was 1893 to 1906, and focuses on Colette’s initial years as a writer trying to come out from under — quite literally — Willy’s thumb.
The film screened at Sundance in January and has a limited U.S. release on September 21, 2018 (probably to qualify for award season?). Wider release is slated in the U.K. on January 25, 2019, and then watch for more in America and elsewhere.
Keira can (not always! Sometimes I like her!) irritate me as much as the next person, but I’m really digging the costumes, and what I see of her performance in the trailer looks good (I only spot one clompy moment!):
The costumes were designed by Andrea Flesch, a Hungarian costume designer who has a number of films on her credit list; only the Tulse Luper Suitcases series jumps out as being historic.
Colette is depicted as being modern — she’s a woman writer who is going to have some same-sex relationships, so her wardrobe reflects her crossing of gender boundaries. They’ve definitely referenced some photos of the real Colette, which makes me pretty happy! Here’s two practical suit-esque outfits, one earlier than the other:
Now, working through the trailer, skipping costumes that aren’t clearly depicted:
Will you see Colette when it comes out?
looks good, Kiera notwithstanding…
I’m so looking forward to seeing this flick. Although Ms Tomlinson’s dress on the standalone shot looks uncorseted.
It has potential.
Loving these beautiful costumes—and that they clearly referenced images of her. :-) I don’t really know much about Colette, but she seems very unique.
Judith Thurman’s biography is the best–she really gets both Colette and the part she played in French literature and social history.
The evening/dinner hat is definitely a thing I’ve seen in illustrations and artwork. Can’t recall specifics offhand, apart from some famous shots of Camille Clifford (the inspiration for the Gibson Girl) wearing a black evening dress and huge hat, which I imagine is what’s being referenced here. I agree it’s jarring in this context though.
Camille Clifford was dubbed “the quintessential Gibson Girl,” but this was because she won a contest to find a woman who matched Gibson’s popular drawings, and she capitalized on this in her stage career.
Gibson’s wife, Irene Langhorne (sister of Nancy Langhorne, later Lady Astor) was said as well to have been the inspiration for the drawings, but Gibson himself made it clear that there was no specific woman that inspired “the Gibson Girl”:
“I’ll tell you how I got what you have called the ‘Gibson Girl.’ I saw her on the streets, I saw her at the theatres, I saw her in the churches. I saw her everywhere and doing everything. I saw her idling on Fifth Avenue and at work behind the counters of the stores… [T]he nation made the type. What Zangwill calls the ‘Melting Pot of Races’ has resulted in a certain character; why should it not also have turned out a certain type of face?…There isn’t any ‘Gibson Girl,’ but there are many thousands of American girls, and for that let us all thank God.”
I’m also slightly disappointed that I don’t seem to be seeing anyone wearing a claudinet/Claudine collar which was a fashion directly inspired by the Claudine books, essentially a pre-Peter Pan collar with long trailing scarf tied in front.
Interesting!
Well, at least those photos with Willy are supposed to be the little schoolgirl child-bride who inspired “his” Claudine novels.
Finally saw “Colette” yesterday, and the latter part is full of would-be Parisian Claudines in school girl attire. The movie itself is beautifully produced and trying very hard to respect Colette and her writing–to be authentic–but Keira’s likable and kind of boring, as usual. I don’t know who could play Colette, who was not sweet and likable.
I might actually be willing to put up with Keira-leads-with-her-jaw-Knightley for this!
Literally LOL’ed at this. I like Keira Knightley, but your description of her is spot on!
I still want to see her & Keeley Hawes play either daughter and mother or sisters ASAP.
This is so wrong. Colette was a fascinating, complex woman who deserves better than the platitudes in the preview, and her posture was nowhere near as slouchy as Keira’s. And the clothing descriptions in Claudine at School are amazing.
Ah, the can-can….which still can’t be shown accurately except in an X-rated film.
Kiera’s HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRR is UPPPPPPPP!!! 10/10! I’ll probably see it when it comes out on video next year!
Good heavens, she actually displays 3 or 4 new expressions beyond her ever present pout.
I guess I’m not done grousing. She’s too damn thin; it detracts. The costumes look wonderful. But agree that bolero/cape print is definitely Civil War.
I didn’t recognise her facially in most of these photos, and yet her body doesn’t look much heavier. They must have done something to her–filler, whatever–or maybe she had a child? I forget. No, I am not interested in seeing this film, although I hope it is good. The facial skin quality in the bathing suit is odd and looks injured–do we know if that is the case?
Looking at the cancan photos makes me wonder. Did those dancers in period wear closed crotch drawers when dancing?
Nope! Which was sort of the whole point, really… But that film looks like it has potential, even if it’s SO easy to go wrong with Colette. The costumes looks gorgeous, anyway.
The real woman has a gorgeous hourglass figure paired with a round, cute face. How anyone thought Knightly was a dead ringer for Colette, is beyond me.
To be honest I’m fed up with Keira Knigtley in period films. Must she appear in very second costume film? Aren’t there more talented and prettier actresses around to work in period films? Keira Knightley must have very good connections in the business that allow her to work in this kind of films, despite her moderate talent and physical flaws (she is too thin for period films and don’t get me started on her jaw).
Wow, there’s some serious shade being thrown on here towards Keira Knightley’s jaw. Was not expecting that (haha).
Unfortunately, her jaw stands out in every sense of the phrase …
It’s the same I thought when I heard about her playing Catherine the Great! Is there not anybody in the buisness who can say: “Please look at any painting! She is not looking like Catherine the Great! She is not looking like the Duchess of Devonshire either! And she plays many of these roles just very very boring with one face for happiness and one for sadness”. I loved to see the costumes in “The Duchess” and I had to go in the theater, but it was hard to do so. Just because Keira Knightley refused to Play the character. Hey, the duchess was a sexy, very inspiring person. She was a Beauty in the 18th century style of taste!
My fingers are crossed it’s as nice as the trailer looks, and an good movie for other reasons as well. Turn of the century is one of my favorite periods, and seems to rarely be done well
Could it be that, after years of wearing period dresses, Kira Knightley has finally learned to (sort of) walk in them?
I was obsessed with Colette in college -after reading an omnibus of her Claudine novels I read every biography our library had. If nothing else this looks a thousand times better than the terrible movie about Colette they made in the 90s. And I’m excited that they seem to be dealing with her sapphic side as well! My biggest gripe is honestly that her bob is way too long and flat!