Towards the end of her years, France’s most celebrated female novelist looked back with rueful humor. “What a wonderful life I’ve had,” Colette wryly observed. “I only wish I’d realized it sooner.”
A similar sentiment might reflect this tasteful tribute to a true rebel: director Wash Westmoreland (“Still Alice”) has an extraordinarily unique subject, but doesn’t seem to realize it until very late in the game.
“Colette” is aesthetically refined, topically relevant, and features a spirited Keira Knightley in the lead. In other words, as a traditional period biopic, it checks all the boxes in fine fashion. But you’d never know it was inspired by a woman whose life was expansive and contradictory and unwieldy in the extreme.