KEIRA KNIGHTLEY AND DENISE GOUGH OPEN UP TO ROXY BOURDILLON ABOUT THEIR NEW FILM AND FEMINISM

PHOTOS LEZLI+ROSE

While ilming their love scene for Colette, Keira Knightley and Denise Gough were labbergasted by the suggestion that a queer sexpert join them on set to share a few pointers. Keira explains that director Wash Westmoreland was concerned, “given that he’s not a woman, that he wouldn’t understand what the sex might be like”. Denise chuckles, “We were like, ‘…Excuse me?’”

We’re in a ive star hotel in London’s Soho and all three of us are giggling so hard we’re close to tears. This mood of frivolity and faint hysteria carries on throughout our interview. Keira and Denise are a riot – warm, welcoming and relaxed, even more so because they’re here together and clearly get along splendidly. They laugh loudly, swear liberally and offer up forthright opinions freely and often. There is no publicist in the room to intervene when things get too titillating. It’s just Keira, Denise and me, and the theme is, “Say whatever the fuck you feel”.

“She was a survivor and she lived by her own rules”

Keira lips off her high heels and wonders aloud, “Why is that really painful? I used to be able to wear them for more than an hour!” Denise gestures towards her own battered feet in solidarity, “I know. Look! I have blisters!” She turns to me and deadpans in her soft Irish accent, “It’s so tough being us”. Keeping up the joke, Keira mutters, “Nightmare, nightmare”.

Today, one of the most celebrated actors of our time is “on the honey and lemon”, having caught a cold from her three-year-old daughter, Edie. She laments, “My little snotbag at nursery with little snotty things – it’s constant snotbag.” I say she sounds delightful and Keira gives me a twinkly grin. Her snifles don’t dampen her spirits and she still manages to be exhilarating company, the sort of person who looks directly into your eyes, and possibly your soul, whenever she talks to you. After 20 years in the biz, she is unafraid to say it exactly how she sees it. She has a voice and, by god, she is going to use it. It’s not hard to see why she was the ideal choice to play real-life French literary icon and infamous provocateur, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette.