Sarah Line Letellier

The 1985 two-part French film “Colette: Les apprentissages” and “Colette: l’âge de femme” (referred to as “Colette” for short) directed by Gérard Poitou-Weber, starring Clémentine Amouroux (wonderful name!) as the young Colette, the stunning and astoundingly Colette-like Macha Méril as the mature Colette, and Jean-Pierre Bisson as Willy, has aged much better than the more recent “Becoming Colette”, reviewed in my last post. The narrative — beginning, as all films about Colette seem to do, when she met Willy — is well researched, and compares well to Colette biographies. Some of the dialogue echoes feelings she expressed in novels or letters, which makes the film even more true to life.

“Becoming Colette” portrays Polaire as being both Willy’s and Colette’s lover. In contrast, in “Colette”, their relationship with Polaire is platonic. In “Colette”, her first female lover is Natalie Barney, instigated by Natalie at Willy’s request. In this film though, it’s not clear why this would benefit or excite Willy, as he is not present. [A minor gripe: Natalie was American, and the actor playing her should have had an American accent.] There are strong feelings as to the truth of the Colette-Natalie rumour, on either side. I like to believe Judith Thurman, who in her brilliant biography “Secrets of the Flesh”, says that Natalie counted Colette as one of “her ‘half’, rather than her ‘full’ conquests” (p.139). (According to Thurman, Natalie was Colette’s second female lover: her first was Georgie Raoul-Duval, an American nine years her senior, who was also Willy’s lover at the same time (p.125).)

Where “Colette” excels is in its depiction of the relationship between Colette and Missy / Max. Their love is portrayed as a “real” relationship, not merely a meaningless affair or as Colette experimenting, as some biographers claim. The depiction of Missy / Max is almost perfect — that is, almost as I imagine her — a maternally protective and indulgent person who lived in drag, except more feminine than photographs show, and with long dark hair (the real Missy / Max had very short blonde hair). They are happy for several years, and act on stage together. That scene is wonderful, with the gold “Egyptian” set, Colette being told off by the director for being naked under her mummy shroud, the scandalized crowds going wild when the women kiss on stage, and Missy / Max’s husband the Marquis in the audience, demanding that she return home at once. Then Colette falls in love with Henri de Jouvenel, and Missy / Max graciously bows out of the picture.

The best things about this film are Macha Méril as the older Colette, the depiction of Colette’s relationship with Missy / Max and that, thank goodness, there is no billowing chiffon during the love scenes. This is the best film about Colette I’ve seen so far.