Tag: Keira Knightley

Official Secrets

Posted on by victorfraga

This is the fascinating story of one of the unsung heroes of our times, whistleblower Katherine Gun. The Iraq War is still an inglorious part of our past and present. This film follows the sequence of events when in 2003 a young woman in the employ of the Government Communications Headquarters takes the momentous step to reveal a memo from the United States to the British government.

It draws on the experience of the Observer staff reporter who had a tip-off about the memo to which Katherine had access. It revealed that the British government was colluding with the US in order to blackmail smaller countries in the United Nations Security Council into supporting the War against Saddam Hussein. The public was not made aware of such engagement, needless to say.

Keira Knightley conveys Katherine’s strength of character with great economy and conviction. There is a stellar supporting cast. Ralph Fiennes as the defending lawyer carries the pivotal role of the man with the thorough investigative legal mind who takes on a case which sets him against longstanding close friends in government. As the Observer reporter, Matt Smith enjoys a central part in the complex considerations surrounding the decision whether to publish or not. Welsh actor Rhys Ifans produces an entertaining eccentric portrayal as Ed Vulliamy, the newspaper’s correspondents in Washington.

The events are followed in the actual time sequence and the consequences gradually unfold. The film demands concentration from the viewer but the story being little known still has elements of suspense. Will Katherine succumb to the pressures when the leak is discovered? How far is she willing to sacrifice her marriage to her strongly held beliefs?

Gavin Hood the director won recognition with Tsotsi in 2003 and more recently with the spy thriller, Eye in the Sky (2015). The film has taken some time to get made, with change of director and cast in the process but the end result produces a compelling narrative with all the actors delivering auspicious performances that complement each other. Anyone interested in the dynamics of diplomacy and the internal forces at work in governing a country cannot fail to be engaged. The role of the free press in trying to check sources and resist government pressure is a compelling element to the gradual unravelling of the story.

Official Secrets is scheduled for national wide release on Friday, October 18th. It also features as a Headline Debate Gala in the programme of the BFI London Film Festival. On VoD in March. Not to be missed!

Colette

Posted on by victorfraga

We have already seen Keira Knightley in The Duchess (Raul Dibb, 2008) astutely depicting the real-life Duchess of Devonshire, who, in the 18th century had to struggle with and failed to escape the tutelage of her ghastly husband. Here the tale is happier. Originally coming as an innocent country girl from Burgundy on marrying Henri Gauthier-Villars, the titular protagonist arrives in the Paris of the Belle Époque and is expected to ghost her husband’s novels, which are published under his pen-name of “Willy”.

These books are entitled Claudine, and in truth they are Colette’s semi-biographical writings. No acknowledgement is made of her contribution. The first book Claudine at School is so well written that it immediately becomes a runaway bestseller. Her husband is played with convincing obtuseness by Dominic West. He believes that his wife is somehow his property and even locks her in a room, expecting her to get on with her writing. This topic will ring bells with those who recently saw The Wife (Bjorn Runge, 2018), starring Glenn Close.

Claudine eventually becomes a brand. Girls go around in France dressed like Claudine with bobbed hair, a white collar and schoolboy like black uniform. Meanwhile Willy is making a lot of money – or rather not – as he keeps spending it on all sorts of things and wasting it on mistresses. Colette is expected to put up with all this, but she doesn’t. Into her life comes Missy, skilfully played by Denise Gough, and they start a lesbian relationship. Eventually, she breaks free of Willy and leads her own successful life as one of France’s leading authors.

In addition to being a ghostwriter, Colette eventually becomes a burlesque dancer. She performs highly risqué lesbian acts with Missy at the Moulin Rouge, with her Willy as her business partner. He is not too concerned about his wife’s sexuality. Willy’s big problem is that in presenting shows featuring lesbianism and trying to make money out of it, he reinforces the sexual stereotypes that oppress his wife and other women, while she is liberating herself with calm self-assurance.

So far so very satisfactory and so very gender-bending but what makes this film so moving is Keira Knightley. She quietly grows from an innocent country girl to a calm, self-confident woman making her own decisions on her own terms without any reference to what others think. She slips into bed with other women (both Missy and an American lover) because it suits her, not because she has adopted a Lesbian identity.

The Belle Époque is extensively depicted throughout the film. This is the Paris of the Moulin Rouge, the cancan, the frou-frou skirts, Toulouse Lautrec and elegant gentlemen in morning suits and top hats. It is the world that Marcel Proust knew. That will attract people in its own right. But there is also a dark side of the Belle Époque: the constant availability of women to satisfy male desire, the hard work of entertaining, the constant dependence on the rich, privileged male.

This is an exquisitely crafted film, and the research has been done properly. Everything from wash basins, to exercise books, the cut of women’s clothes, the dark, wooden, heavy furniture, wall paper and lighting seems right. Colette is definitely worth a trip to the theatre. It’s both delightful to watch and also a mature tribute to feminism.

Colette is in cinemas across the UK from Wednesday, January 9th. On VoD on Monday, May 13th.