Colette (2018) * *

 Directed by: Wash Westmoreland

Starring:  Keira Knightley, Dominic West, Denise Gough, Fiona Shaw

I have trouble putting my finger on why Colette didn't work.   The actors do fine, passionate work and the filmmakers clearly love the subject matter, but it doesn't realize its early potential.   It looks great, but feels empty despite filling the screen with lush scenery, lots of sex, and French characters speaking in British accents.    At least the actors didn't run around sounding like Inspector Clouseau. 
But, there is more to why Colette ultimately fails.   It is about a woman finding her voice in a male-dominated literary world (and just about every other world) in turn of the 20th century France, but it isn't emotionally stirring.    All of Colette's triumphs occur in the epilogue before the closing credits, when we see pictures of the real people the actors portrayed over the last two hours and a paragraph posted about what happened to them .    We get the sense the movie ended just as it was getting revved up.   The actors, especially Knightley and West, truly have a blast with their roles.  Their characters have wit and intelligence.   They adore stretching their mouths to let the big words come right out...as Peter Gabriel once sang.

We first meet Colette (Knightley) in the French countryside of the late 1890's.   Her full name is much bigger, so we will call her Colette for our own sanity.   She has a wild spirit, which can't be let loose in her strict household.    She has secret rendezvous in a nearby barn with family friend Willy (West), a critic and writer of some note who lives in exciting Paris.    They marry, but Colette soon learns her husband is a philanderer, lives well beyond his means, and pays (or doesn't pay) ghostwriters for just about every piece of literature that bears his name.

Fed up with Willy's antics, which he attributes to "doing what men do", as if that were a legitimate excuse, Colette leaves for a while, but Willy wins her back.    Soon after Willy, who is in such desperate financial straits he has his furniture repossessed, has Colette ghostwrite a novel which he will take credit for that turns out to be a massive success.    Willy is the toast of the town, while Colette slaves away writing sequels, which Willy cajoles out of her by locking her in a room for hours at a time.    We know the marriage is doomed, especially when both Colette and Willy have an affair with the same woman and Colette takes a steady interest in a transgender actor.    Colette soon learns to sing and dance and takes to performing her works on the stage, while Willy drifts into obscurity.    Colette eventually demands to be given proper credit for her work and slowly frees herself from Willy's grasp.    This all sounds much more captivating than it actually is. 

Colette's first thirty minutes or so contain the most life.   Willy and Colette establish themselves as interesting people and we care about them.    We just wish the rest of the movie could keep up with them.   The middle sags to the point it doesn't recover.    We never learn to root for Colette or despise Willy.   The movie simply assumes we will do so.   We simply pity them both for being hung out to dry in rambling, unfocused movie.   When Colette finally wins the rights to her work and she can finally take credit for them, the lights go up and there isn't much to cheer about.   Pity.