Colette
15/01/19 Filed in: Cinema
This is the bumper season for films as the Academy Awards draw nearer, so it is sometimes difficult to decide what to see. That said, the trailer for Colette was enough to convince me that it was one film I wouldn't miss. I must admit to knowing very little about this female author, which is an embarrassing admission considering my interest in things French.
We're introduce to Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, with her parents, in their country house. They await the arrival of Willy, the pen name of Henri Gauthier-Villars, a critic cum publisher who's on his way from Paris. All seems normal across the table as they sup tea, but after Willy has left we see Gabrielle, as she is called at this point, go out with a basket to collect blackberries, only to meet up with Willy in a barn. We next see the pair as man and wife in Paris.
Gabrielle doesn't suit Paris, and Paris, or at least the people she meets there, doesn't suit her. Her sole interest at the first soirée she attends is an unfortunate bejewelled tortoise who is stuck on a pedestal whereas, as she points out, it should be out on the grass. She does, however, exchange knowing looks with the wife of one of Willy's friends, a hint of what is to follow. Willy's publishing is not going well and they are in debt, largely due to his excesses, which includes visiting women of the street, a fact that Gabriele discovers thanks to an anonymous tip off.
Gabrielle's initial shock and disgust is calmed by Willy's smooth tongue but, with Willy's blessing, she herself embarks on some extra-marital interests. His blessing, however, only extends to affairs with other women. When Willy and Gabrielle receive an invitation to visit a bored American wife, Georgie, whose much older husband is away, Willy declines. But he then suggests that Gabrielle goes alone, as it was really her that Georgie was interested in. Thus starts a relationship between the two women, complicated by Willy also having designs on Georgie, which she doesn't discourage.
While all this sexual liberation is under way, Willy's business affairs aren't going too well, his authors either not producing the goods, or refusing to work for lack of payment. It is at this point that Willy suggests that Gabrielle writes a novel, based on the stories she has told him of her youth. She is unsure but he insists, and to cut a complicated story short, she ultimately produces the manuscript for Claudine à l'école. But Willy doesn't think it will sell, upsetting Gabrielle, who looking at the rejected manuscript edits her name to read just Colette, which she adopts as her new persona.
It's only when the chips are really down, with bailiffs repossessing furniture, and after a bit of salacious editing from Willy, that the book is published. It flies off the shelves. An elated Willy wants her to write another book, but she doesn't want to. So, staying in the recently acquired country house, bought from the proceeds of her book, Gabrielle is literally locked in her room to finish the manuscript. And, of course, the book is again a great success.
At this point Mathilde De Morny appears on the scene, or Missy as she is affectionately known. Dressing as a man, it is only her position in society that allows her to behave in such a way. But Colette is immediately attracted to her; or him, as she likes to say. It is this relationship that underpins the remainder of the story, with Colette more and more remote from Willy, who has anyway found his own Claudine, a young woman who had come to get her book autographed, declaring to him that she was the true Claudine.
The final nail in Willy's coffin was when he promotes and finances a stage show featuring Colette and Missy that even shocks a Moulin Rouge audience, although some agitation from former husbands of Missy incites the ensuing fracas. Willy then commits an unforgivable sin in the eyes of Colette, which effectively ends their relationship, with Colette going on to become the famous author that we recognise today.
Gabrielle's initial shock and disgust is calmed by Willy's smooth tongue but, with Willy's blessing, she herself embarks on some extra-marital interests. His blessing, however, only extends to affairs with other women. When Willy and Gabrielle receive an invitation to visit a bored American wife, Georgie, whose much older husband is away, Willy declines. But he then suggests that Gabrielle goes alone, as it was really her that Georgie was interested in. Thus starts a relationship between the two women, complicated by Willy also having designs on Georgie, which she doesn't discourage.
While all this sexual liberation is under way, Willy's business affairs aren't going too well, his authors either not producing the goods, or refusing to work for lack of payment. It is at this point that Willy suggests that Gabrielle writes a novel, based on the stories she has told him of her youth. She is unsure but he insists, and to cut a complicated story short, she ultimately produces the manuscript for Claudine à l'école. But Willy doesn't think it will sell, upsetting Gabrielle, who looking at the rejected manuscript edits her name to read just Colette, which she adopts as her new persona.
It's only when the chips are really down, with bailiffs repossessing furniture, and after a bit of salacious editing from Willy, that the book is published. It flies off the shelves. An elated Willy wants her to write another book, but she doesn't want to. So, staying in the recently acquired country house, bought from the proceeds of her book, Gabrielle is literally locked in her room to finish the manuscript. And, of course, the book is again a great success.
At this point Mathilde De Morny appears on the scene, or Missy as she is affectionately known. Dressing as a man, it is only her position in society that allows her to behave in such a way. But Colette is immediately attracted to her; or him, as she likes to say. It is this relationship that underpins the remainder of the story, with Colette more and more remote from Willy, who has anyway found his own Claudine, a young woman who had come to get her book autographed, declaring to him that she was the true Claudine.
The final nail in Willy's coffin was when he promotes and finances a stage show featuring Colette and Missy that even shocks a Moulin Rouge audience, although some agitation from former husbands of Missy incites the ensuing fracas. Willy then commits an unforgivable sin in the eyes of Colette, which effectively ends their relationship, with Colette going on to become the famous author that we recognise today.