Colette is pushed by her husband Willy to write a novel when the pair come on tough times, passing it off as his own and basking in the success. When she eventually wants recognition it does not work out as easily as she had planned.
Colette starts out looking like just a love story between Colette and Willy the man she rather quickly marries. The love between them does seem real and passionate but Willy a man who employed a lot of writers and put his name against everything seems to love attention. But he does seem to be consumed and obsessed by his wife as well. Even more so when he realises that she can actually write and that people will want to buy these novels. Everything under his name of course!
Colette eventually wants to have her own voice and her own life, she grows to hate her husband after he locked her away to force her to write more and more. As Paris is taken over by Claudine. The books are such a hit with young women, a lot of people seem to guess that Colette was the actual writer. Could a man really write about a woman like that? I guess that is something the film makes you think about.
The problem with the film is that it really does stall in the middle and I found myself a little bit bored. Not taking anything away from the performances though as Keira Knightley and Dominic West really were both fantastic and I enjoyed watching them. The story just seemed to get a little bit boring as not a massive amount really happened and it felt like it was being padded out to fill the time in.
It just seems as though we are being thrown a lot of films now with a strong female role but sometimes they are a little bit flat. That is something this one seems to do really, it doesn't really have that many interesting moments which is a shame really. Something else that is a little off-putting is that it is all set in Paris yet we have a huge talent of British actors and then the writing was all in French. It makes you wonder how ell this would be received in France?
I do feel that I need to mention Keira Knightley again though as she seems to be making much better choices in terms of different roles now and I have really enjoyed seeing her career develop and move to another level over the past few years, something that I wasn't really expecting in all honesty. She is engaging enough and tries very hard in this role, what does very much feel like awards season bait. But that is what we get at the start of the year isn't it! After watching the film it hasn't really made me want to research the true story behind it all, which is something I usually want to do after a film based on real life. But I just wasn't overly bothered by the characters in this one.