Colette (2018) stands as one of the most significant biographical period dramas of recent years, bringing to vivid life the story of French literary icon Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette through Keira Knightley’s transformative performance.
The film, directed by Wash Westmoreland, follows Colette as she transitions from a provincial girl to a Parisian luminary after her marriage to the charismatic but manipulative author Henry “Willy” Gauthier-Villars (Dominic West). We see her as she moves to Paris and agrees to help ghostwrite his work. After a novel about her bi school days becomes a major success, Colette fights to keep copyright over her work whilst also bucking against the social restraints of the time.
Initially, Colette’s relationship with her husband, Willy, is a happy one, marked by mutual attraction and intellectual respect. However, as Colette’s Claudine novels achieve wild success, Willy’s growing resentment and his relentless efforts to shape her into a specific archetype — forcing her to write more — create a rift between them. Alongside her struggles with Willy, Colette’s attraction to women becomes evident, including a captivating redhead and Missy (Denise Gough), an upper-class woman who wears men’s clothing and sees Colette’s talent as a way to give young women a voice.
Knightley herself commented to Salt Lake Magazine how much she admired playing a bi character like Colette:
Did Colette’s approach to sexuality speak to you in any profound or personal way?
[Knightley] Yes, because she was entirely natural to herself, and she acted without shame. What a wonderful, positive way of looking at your sexuality and the people that you fall in love with. I respected that about her. And I loved that she was herself and that any rule that didn’t fit, she broke and made the life that she wanted to live. I think that’s a wonderful, empowering story, both from a feminist point of view and from her sexuality.
The film stands out by showing her contradictions, like her complicity in Willy’s schemes before her rebellion, and her occasional cruelty alongside her brilliance. Its themes of artistic ownership and gender fluidity resonate strongly in contemporary discussions about creative labor and bi representation. By restoring Colette to her rightful place as a pioneer rather than a muse, the film sends viewers back to the original works with fresh understanding and renewed appreciation for the woman who dared to write and live outside all constraints.