Keira Knightley explains the reason she loves period dramas

Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Keira Knightley has voiced her support for the period drama once more, after previously claiming that there is something of a sexist double standard around the genre. The actor’s latest film is Colette, based on the life of one of France’s most famous authors, who was renowned for challenging the boundaries of gender and sexuality during La Belle Époque in Paris. Of course, when you grow up you are, but you still want to have the adventures.” While attending this year’s Toronto Film Festival to promote the film, Knightley said of the period drama: “There’s a negativity around them, because predominantly they’re female.” Earlier this year, Knightley wrote an essay titled “The Weaker Sex” for a collection called Feminists Don’t Wear Pink and Other Lies, which railed against the contradictory expectations placed on women and, especially, mothers. She said of the piece: “Before motherhood, you’re sexy, but if we talk about the whole vagina-splitting thing then that’s terrifying; there’s no sex there, so what we do is go into the virgin-mother retrofit, that’s nice and safe.” “The problem with those two images is I think very few women actually identify with them.