'Colette' is a bio-pic about the French author Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, who is best known in this country for writing the source material for the Oscar winning 1950's musical 'Gigi'. More then half a century before that movie came out Colette wrote a series of semi-autobiographical novels featuring an alter ego named Claudine. These novels were tremendously successful and spawned a wave of early merchandising, 'Claudine' beauty creams ect.
The novels were originally attributed to her husband, and that marriage is really the core of the story here. Henry Gauthier-Villars, an author and editor was responsible for launching her career, but also tried to control it and didn't always make kind or wise decisions, in fact they often weren't. The marriage would end in divorce and Colette would continue writing, as well as a long homosexual relationship that started late in her marriage. Leads Keira Knightly and Dominic West are very strong in this. A story that was added much by my unfamiliarity with it. Kind of an audacious piece. ***1/2
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