Colette main backdrop
Colette main poster

6.4/10 • 29

2013-09-122h 6m

DramaHistoryRomance

As World War II rages on, Villi and Colette are captured and sent to Auschwitz concentration camp. Imprisoned within separate compounds, the lovers must risk their lives to be together again.

Directors
Milan Cieslar
Writters
Geraldine Blecker
Editors
Geraldine Blecker, Alena Spustová

Top Billed Cast

View Credits
  1. Jiří Mádl

    Jiří Mádl

    Vili Feld

  2. Clémence Thioly

    Clémence Thioly

    Colette

  3. Jiří Bartoška

    Jiří Bartoška

    Old Vili (voice)

  4. Eric Bouwer

    Eric Bouwer

    Weissacker

  5. Zuzana Mauréry

    Zuzana Mauréry

  6. Andrej Hryc

    Andrej Hryc

  7. Ondřej Vetchý

    Ondřej Vetchý

  8. Kristína Svarinská

    Kristína Svarinská

    Sarah

  9. Jeremi Durand

    Jeremi Durand

    François Platard (voice)

Reviews1

View Reviews
Reno Avatar

Reno

Jun 30, 2015

7/10

Exhausted, barely hanging for the sake of love.
The story was told by an escaped Jewish from the Auschwitz concentration camp controlled by the German Nazi during the second world war. Obviously the film was based on the history, so the story must be true, but I feel there are some fictional accounts as well. Because it was the first called 'Colette: A Girl from Antwerp' from the three book series about three Jewish women. The author Arnost Lustig was the victim of the war crime and it was his story. All the confuse is for the male lead character named Vili Feld, not Arnost Lustig. It was a decent as a movie and one of the terrifying world war 2 horror as a story. Those who survived that outrage was lived to tell the stories, and just imagine how many more stories have not made its accounts. Despite it was about a young woman called Colette Cohen, the tale was narrated by Vili Feld by recollecting his memories of the prison camp events. Colette is the one he has fallen for. He gives up an easy job just to see her everyday. His secret love, suffering during held and deaths around, all these are the story's main ingredient told in a margin of the thin line between good and bad. Vili lived all his life looking for the reason for the some unanswered questions. Being in the prison and having an affair was like a chess game. The story was also told in a similar fashion, like pawns moving all around from both the sides and sacrificing a few to win the game. Ultimately, how the game was set up for the grand finale was ended casually before the original timeline's end come into the effect. Survival was the main intention, especially the King and the Queen in the chess format to say. That's the reason the deaths around, I mean the pawn sacrifices were not heartbreaking that we see easily throughout the film.
The greatest thing a person could ever do...
Is to save someone's life.
Technically, it sounded a great; photography, editing, music all were depicted the 40s era precisely as for our knowledge of understanding. The performances were too not bad at all, but it was the second string end that looked so stupid. No complain if it was accurate to the real occurrence, though there are not enough evident to prove or the movie won't tell much at the end. In a such cruelty related theme I can't believe the shortfall of emotions and rawness. The screenplay was nearly comparable to the dark comedy, having a brutal war in the backdrop. It focused lots of thriller, but there are equally cool moments that actually calms. As a result, it seems not true to the novel, but borrows certain pages from the book, especially heavily on the romance bits and ignores everything else. After watching the whole film, still doubt remained with me in certain parts of the narrative. Maybe I need to have one more look, appears to be something I missed. The film, coming from a country like the Czech Republic is really remarkable effort, especially for it in the English language which makes the world look to on this direction. There's no argument about the international standards, the original touch is what's needed because I felt many scenes were directly inspired by the other second world war flicks. Other than that it was very close to 'Life is Beautiful', except it was not a comedy. Worth for a single time watch like any plot that related to this filthy war the man forever regretted for. 6.5/10

Media

  • Colette poster
  • Colette poster

Recommendations

  • Vesna Goes Fast main backdrop

    Vesna Goes Fast

    6.3

  • Brokeback Mountain main backdrop

    Brokeback Mountain

    7.8

  • Catch Me If You Can main backdrop

    Catch Me If You Can

    8.0

  • La La Land main backdrop

    La La Land

    7.9

  • Amélie main backdrop

    Amélie

    7.9

  • The Dark Knight main backdrop

    The Dark Knight

    8.5

  • The Shawshank Redemption main backdrop

    The Shawshank Redemption

    8.7

  • Bohemian Rhapsody main backdrop

    Bohemian Rhapsody

    8.0

  • Green Book main backdrop

    Green Book

    8.2

  • Inception main backdrop

    Inception

    8.4

  • Spider-Man 3 main backdrop

    Spider-Man 3

    6.4

  • A Star Is Born main backdrop

    A Star Is Born

    7.5

  • Rain Man main backdrop

    Rain Man

    7.8

  • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs main backdrop

    Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

    7.1

  • Pulp Fiction main backdrop

    Pulp Fiction

    8.5

  • Captain Marvel main backdrop

    Captain Marvel

    6.8

  • The Wolf of Wall Street main backdrop

    The Wolf of Wall Street

    8.0

  • Call Me by Your Name main backdrop

    Call Me by Your Name

    8.1

  • The Godfather main backdrop

    The Godfather

    8.7

  • Fight Club main backdrop

    Fight Club

    8.4

Status
Released
Original Language
Czech
Budget
--
Revenue
--
Keywords
based on novel or bookholocaust (shoah)