\section{Willy and Colette are an attractive couple with a shared sense of mischief}
Through the 1890s and early 1900s. Midway through, the film turns briefly into a farce as both Colette and Willy become enraptured by Georgie Raoul-Duval (Eleanor Tomlinson), a bisexual "vamp" debutante from Louisiana.

Colette is far too strong a character to fall prey to romantic spar or to allow her spendthrift and philandering husband to cheat her. If her ability to open up to Willy for the benefit of their union makes the best of it, none of her relationships, whether with Willy, or later with the androgynous Missy or Morny (Denise Gough), are especially troubled.

The film deals with a relatively small part of its subject's story, but before she wrote \textit{Gigi}. This is an era when female novelists, and as a portrait of an artist as a young woman, the film is intriguing. Knightley excels in the title role: but, as drama, it feels a little under-charged.

\section{Ripples but no waves in staged melodrama}
\subsection{Life Itself (15)}
Dir: Dan Fogelman, US/Spain, 2018, 118 mins, starring Oscar Isaac, Olivia Wilde, Annette Bening, Mandy Patinkin, Antonio Banderas, Laia Costa.

Life is the "ultimate unreliable narrator". That is one of the greeting card--style nuggets of wisdom shared in Dan Fogelman's trite and manipulative saga.

Fogelman is one of many film-makers in recent years to explore the butterfly effect: a small action in one character has a seismic effect on the life of others. Oscar Isaac plays Will, a dreamy New Yorker who, as a young student, walks to the precinct of the poet. They are so madly in love that it is inevitable that fate (or Fogelman's will) play a few tricks on them.

Some of the dialogue is stilted and self-conscious. Abby can barely speak about her thesis without sounding like a character in literature; she thinks she has discovered the secret of life itself.

Fogelman's tale is constructed in sequence. It is full of flashbacks and leaps into the future. Will is shown witnessing, with a therapist (Annette Bening), failing to pull himself together. In one scene, the therapy is interrupted by a gruesome traffic accident.

The New York scenes are followed by a large section set in rural Andalusia, where the locals endure equally complicated emotional lives.

Will has courted Abby, proud and hard-working farm worker Javier (Sergio Peris-Mencheta) sets out to win the hand of the shy and charming Isabel (Laia Costa). The couple's idyll is disturbed by Javier's boss, Vincent (Antonio Banderas).

Vincent is a grizzled and menacing figure but one prey to petty pride, like most of the others here. The big theme of the film is that everyone is both hero and villain in their own story.

In an otherwise bland affair, English actress Olivia Cooke shows some welcome rebellious attitude as a young woman scarred emotionally by events in her earlier life and driven to act out at anyone who teases her.

The film touches again and again on the misery in its protagonists' lives. It uses a trick to hide the darkness. For all the talk about unreliable narrators, we can always guess how events will unfold. Coincidences abound and you are always aware that Fogelman is pulling the strings to get his improbable story to its predetermined end.

\section{Reel Talk}
\subsection{Peep Show writer darkens Sundance}
A film written by Sam Bain (above) has been added to the line-up for this month's Sundance Film Festival. \textit{Corporate Animals} is a horror comedy starring Demi Moore as the CEO of an edible cutlery company whose team-building trip takes a dark turn.

\subsection{Bale's Cheney keeps his shirt on}
Christian Bale (above) gained 60lb to play Dick Cheney in the biopic \textit{Vice}, but a trailer shot of him in boxer shorts did not make the final cut. "One problem with the movie was that it was this decades long," said director Adam McKay.

\subsection{A Quiet Place sequel to expand world}
John Krasinski has revealed details about a sequel to his hit \textit{A Quiet Place}. It will revisit the apocalyptic world from "another perspective". "The world is the story of the movie. You can drop whoever you want into it and everyone feels connected to it."

\subsection{Spice Girls' cartoon heroes knocked back}
The Spice Girls return to the stage this summer but their alter ego movie -- following the 1997 film \textit{Spice World} -- is looking doubtful. The group has signed off on an animated superhero movie based on their alter egos, but it has yet to be picked up by a broadcaster or distributor.

\section{What critics are saying about the new releases}
\subsection{Colette (45)}
"Colette is a character-driven movie, but also one that is sending a message about social mores and their malleability." -- \textit{The Wall Street Journal}

"Westmoreland's Paris is scrumptiously decadent -- and sexy -- as Colette navigates the city's gossipy social scene." -- \textit{New York Post}

\subsection{Life Itself (15)}
"The all-too-tidy web by which Fogelman's ensemble of characters interconnect plays as hackneyed and contrived." -- \textit{South China Morning Post}

"Made for people who can't be trusted to understand storytelling unless it's ladled on and explained via montage and voiceover." -- \textit{IndieWire}

\subsection{RBG (PG)}
"Informs, and even delights with its portrait of one of the most remarkable lawyers, judges, and feminist icons of our time." -- \textit{Village Voice}

"A celebration of the octogenarian not just as a pop-culture folk hero but as a woman whose work has remade the legal landscape." -- \textit{Entertainment Weekly}

\subsection{One Cut of the Dead (15)}
"Opens with monster mayhem before turning into a funny satire of genre film-making and a charming family comedy-drama." -- \textit{Variety}

"Endlessly head-spinning, turning a riotous genre treat into a love letter to both film-making and film-watching alike." -- \textit{The Daily Telegraph}