Instinctively avoiding Keira Knightley

I don’t have a problem with Keira Knightley. In fact, if you asked me whether I liked Keira Knightley or didn’t like her, I’d say I liked her. In fact, sometimes she is brilliant.

Keira Knightley movies? Not so much. Not lately, anyway.

Though I wouldn’t actually know, because I’ve stopped seeing them.

Official Secrets is playing at the cinema downstairs from me and others around Australia, and it’s the umpteenth straight Keira Knightley movie I will be consciously skipping. (Fact check: “Umpteenth” actually equals “third.”)

It started with Colette, a period piece about the eponymous 19^th century French novelist. It continued with The Aftermath, a period piece set in Germany after World War II. Now there’s Official Secrets, a period piece about an early 21^st century whistleblower.

The periods have gotten progressively closer to modern day, but they are still, one could argue, period pieces.

And for the purposes of this argument, I’m making that the salient characteristic that troubles me. I hadn’t consciously realized it until I turned my nose up at Official Secrets yesterday as I was doing some Christmas shopping near the theater downstairs from me, but that moment caused me to acknowledge and reckon with why I am snubbing Knightley. And I’ve decided that I’m not that interested in actors who appear exclusively in period pieces.

This probably requires some clarification.

For one, Knightley does not appear exclusively in period pieces. She actually had another 2018 film that I conveniently skipped in my above chronology, though I do think it came out in Australia before Colette did. That was The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, a fantasy movie (in which she was quite delightful as the villain). This past decade alone you’ve also got, in no particular order, Begin Again, Last Night, Collateral Beauty, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Laggies and Everest, none of which can really be described as period pieces (though the last one does not take place in present day, so you could make the argument).

The other necessary clarification is that period pieces are not bad. If I were to make such a statement, I’d be dismissing probably a quarter of all cinematic output. I’ve loved many a period piece and will continue to do so, it probably goes without saying.

But Knightley and period pieces together … I guess they’ve reached some kind of combined critical mass that I only became aware of yesterday. Together, they turn me off.

Knightley has flourished in these roles in the past, of course. She’s always been a bit of a classic thespian in that sense, as she’s appeared in adaptations of Tolstoy, Dickens and Austen. (The fact that she doesn’t have a single Shakespeare adaptation to her name is, quite frankly, a surprise.) So it’s not a new thing and it never bothered me before.

But I must admit my patience for your everyday, run-of-the-mill period piece has worn a bit thin in recent years, and that just so happens to coincide with Knightley appearing in a run of them, even if one of them is from the early 21st century. The terms “period piece” and “recreation of recent historical event” are getting kind of intermingled there, as both types of film are wearing a bit thin for me.

It’s not really a rational thing, though, and the fact that I haven’t seen any of these films I’m judging seems particularly uncharitable. I’m really just trying to put my finger on a certain otherwise inexplicable reaction I am having to seeing Keira Knightley’s face on a movie poster.

Two potential bits of good news.

For one, Knightley had another movie in 2019 that I also conveniently skipped in the chronology, because I was not even aware of it until I hit up IMDB. That’s Berlin, I Love You, the latest in a series of love letters to various international cities that consist of a series of short films by different directors. If I’m using Paris, Je T’aime as my model, those short films will have all been set in modern day and will not have anything to do with recent historical events.

Then there’s her next project, 2020’s Misbehavior. Yes, this is a period piece, but here’s what the description on IMDB states: “A group of women hatch a plan to disrupt the 1970 Miss World beauty competition in London.” So, not the kind of “stuffy period piece” that I have not, until now, explained that I associate with Knightley.

What I should really probably do is see either The Aftermath or Official Secrets in the closing weeks of 2019 before my rankings deadline, so I know if my preconceived notions about these films and their ability to distinguish themselves from the crowd are warranted. December is light on new releases in Australia, so I could probably even catch Official Secrets in the theater. Hey, it’s right downstairs.

I’ll consider it. In the meantime: No offense, Keira. Just make sure you continue to consider all your career options, and we’ll be fine.