Becoming Colette

Last updated
Becoming Colette
German Colette
Running time
97 minutes
CountriesGermany
United Kingdom
France
LanguageEnglish

Becoming Colette is a 1991 German-British-French biographical drama film written by Ruth Graham, directed by Danny Huston and starring Klaus Maria Brandauer and Mathilda May as Henry Gauthier-Villars and Colette respectively. It was originally entitled Colette. [1]

Contents

Plot

During one of her avant-garde theater performances, Colette notices that her ex-husband Willy, Gauthier-Villars, is in the audience, prompting her to reminisce about her development from ingenue in rural Burgundy to novelist in Paris. It follows Colette's life in her twenties and thirties, her marriage to libertine Willy, her relationship with, the younger, yet well-experienced actress Polaire, and the publication of her first novels under Willy's name.

Caricature of Willy, Colette and Polaire by illustrator Sem (c.1910) Sem Willy Colette Polaire.jpg
Caricature of Willy, Colette and Polaire by illustrator Sem (c.1910)

Cast

Production

The shooting was marked by the violence of Klaus Maria Brandauer towards Mathilda May, without intervention of the film crew to protect her. [2]

Release

The film was released in New York City on November 6, 1992. [3]

Reception

Joe Leydon of Variety gave the film a negative review and wrote, "Not even a twinkly eyed, scene-stealing turn by Klaus Maria Brandauer is enough to enliven Danny Huston's Becoming Colette ..." [4]

Peter Rainer of the Los Angeles Times also gave the film a negative review and wrote, "The film, which was directed by Danny Huston and scripted by Ruth Graham, has an airless, disembodied quality—not exactly what one wants from a movie about a sensualist of genius." [5]

Rita Kempley of The Washington Post also gave the film a negative review, describing it as "negligible". [6]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Colette". BFI Collections Search. British Film Institute. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  2. "Mathilda May : "Je ne me sentais pas digne d'être aimée"". www.parismatch.com. Retrieved May 28, 2024.
  3. Canby, Vincent (November 6, 1992). "The Making of a French Literary Legend". The New York Times. Retrieved February 12, 2023. The film, which opens today at the Sutton, is not quite a nonstop scream but, in its determinedly flatfooted way, it's as saucy a piece of movie baggage as has turned up in two or three decades.
  4. Leydon, Joe (May 12, 1992). "Becoming Colette". Variety. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  5. Rainer, Peter (November 20, 1992). "MOVIE REVIEW : An Unbecoming 'Becoming Colette'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  6. Kempley, Rita (November 25, 1992). "'Becoming Colette'". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 12, 2023.