For a 33-year-old British film star, Keira Knightley has had a superb career. She has already starred in a number of well-received and/or successful movies, from indie hits to pure popcorn to dramas.
But still, after 20+ year career and near 100 nominations, there's still no major acting awards. No Oscars, Globes, BAFTAs... even Alliance of Women Film Journalists and British Independent Film Awards have left her cold.
What gives? Everybody knows she can act but maybe she needs to find more remarkable characters to truly make her mark?
These may be the questions Knightley and her agent have faced, because "Colette" seems to be a movie tailored to address these issues.
Above all, it gives her a chance to appear as a strong female figure - historical one, no less, a scandalous sensual writer of 19th century who left his good-for-nothing famous husband, began dressing as a man and sleeping with other girls.
It's also a prestige picture, made for awards season, both looking very glamorous and carrying the always-important topic of girl power. And it's a period piece which Knightley has a lots of experience with anyway. So, win-win from every angle, right?
And it starts strong, it does. Keira looks gorgeous, the whole end of the 19th century Parisian and French life looks fabulous - although it was actually filmed in Hungary. This movie is a looker for sure, Oscar noms for set/art design and costumes seem certain.
Knightley also has a great support in the form of Dominic West as Colette's husband, a party-loving, women-seducing famous author who doesn't actually pen much which is published under his name.
This is untypically flamboyant character for West, and he takes the most of it, becoming the life of the party both in his life and in the movie.
The screen veteran doesn't overshadow or steal Knightley's central place but the result would be much less fun to watch if there was less of him.
Speaking of fun, it should be mentioned that despite its awards aspirations and women's lib theme, "Colette" doesn't take itself very seriously.
It's best described as soap opera with big budget - like a fairy tale for adults, offering some snacks for thought but mainly made for easy watching.
The good thing is that authors have found just a right balance between serious and entertaining, so the movie never drags or gets bogged down by some of its heavier themes such as women's sexuality or position in the society.
The bad thing is that despite its enjoyable performances and intriguing characters, it never delves anything deeper either, not philosophically, not on story level.
Even worse, the authors have had trouble accomodating everything they wanted to show about Colette's life.
Because there's so much content and so little time, the story picks up the tempo at some point and just starts rushing from one important "moment" to the next, not giving anything proper room or time to evolve naturally.
After a while, it gets hard to sense there are real conflicts in heroine's life, because everything always just smoothly falls in its right place, or falls away. Honestly, it would work much better in a longer mini-series or something, with more time to work with.
So, "Colette" may have been devised as Keira Knightley's career's next defining moment but what we get is something rather tame and easily digestible for the YA (young adult) crowd, probably for those who liked "Suffragette" and "Wonder Woman".
So if you like the idea of "strong" female figures but actually care more about their looks, or movie looking beautiful, then you may have found your next favorite eye-candy.
But still, after 20+ year career and near 100 nominations, there's still no major acting awards. No Oscars, Globes, BAFTAs... even Alliance of Women Film Journalists and British Independent Film Awards have left her cold.
What gives? Everybody knows she can act but maybe she needs to find more remarkable characters to truly make her mark?
These may be the questions Knightley and her agent have faced, because "Colette" seems to be a movie tailored to address these issues.
Above all, it gives her a chance to appear as a strong female figure - historical one, no less, a scandalous sensual writer of 19th century who left his good-for-nothing famous husband, began dressing as a man and sleeping with other girls.
It's also a prestige picture, made for awards season, both looking very glamorous and carrying the always-important topic of girl power. And it's a period piece which Knightley has a lots of experience with anyway. So, win-win from every angle, right?
And it starts strong, it does. Keira looks gorgeous, the whole end of the 19th century Parisian and French life looks fabulous - although it was actually filmed in Hungary. This movie is a looker for sure, Oscar noms for set/art design and costumes seem certain.
Knightley also has a great support in the form of Dominic West as Colette's husband, a party-loving, women-seducing famous author who doesn't actually pen much which is published under his name.
This is untypically flamboyant character for West, and he takes the most of it, becoming the life of the party both in his life and in the movie.
The screen veteran doesn't overshadow or steal Knightley's central place but the result would be much less fun to watch if there was less of him.
Speaking of fun, it should be mentioned that despite its awards aspirations and women's lib theme, "Colette" doesn't take itself very seriously.
It's best described as soap opera with big budget - like a fairy tale for adults, offering some snacks for thought but mainly made for easy watching.
The good thing is that authors have found just a right balance between serious and entertaining, so the movie never drags or gets bogged down by some of its heavier themes such as women's sexuality or position in the society.
The bad thing is that despite its enjoyable performances and intriguing characters, it never delves anything deeper either, not philosophically, not on story level.
Even worse, the authors have had trouble accomodating everything they wanted to show about Colette's life.
Because there's so much content and so little time, the story picks up the tempo at some point and just starts rushing from one important "moment" to the next, not giving anything proper room or time to evolve naturally.
After a while, it gets hard to sense there are real conflicts in heroine's life, because everything always just smoothly falls in its right place, or falls away. Honestly, it would work much better in a longer mini-series or something, with more time to work with.
So, "Colette" may have been devised as Keira Knightley's career's next defining moment but what we get is something rather tame and easily digestible for the YA (young adult) crowd, probably for those who liked "Suffragette" and "Wonder Woman".
So if you like the idea of "strong" female figures but actually care more about their looks, or movie looking beautiful, then you may have found your next favorite eye-candy.