20 FT.COM/MAGAZINE MARCH7/
‘Fame.Tric kything
tona vigate’
Inherlatestfilm,KeiraKnightle yplays areal-lif eactivist
whodisruptedthe1970MissWorldcompetitioninLondon.
TheactortalkstoEmma Jacobsaboutmotherhood,
#MeTooandherown‘feministawakening’FT.COM/MAGAZINE MARCH7/82020 21K
eiraKnightleyisa
hypocrite. And so areyou.
“We’re all hypocrites,”she
says.“We’rehumanbeings.
Beingahumanbeing is
beingahypocrite.”
People, withalltheir
messycontradictions,rarelyliveupto their
virtuous ideals.That is howKnightleysquares
asuccessfulcareerinanindustry that projects
impossiblebeauty standards–while also
applauding the feminist protests at the 1970
MissWorld competition, thesubject of her new
film,Misbehaviour.
Knightley plays SallyAlexander,the real-life
activist who,together with fellowmembers of the
newWomen’s LiberationMovement,interrupted
thepageant with ink-squirting toyguns,football
rattles and flourbombs.Their actions brought the
campaignagainst the objectification ofwomen to
atelevisionaudience of 100 million.
ForKnightley, exploring conflicting interests
–such as the challenge of balancing herown
feminist principleswith the demands of her job
–was part of the film’s attraction. “That’swhy
Iwantedtodoit!” she says,with such forceyou
can almost seethe exclamation marks project
from her mouth. “I came into this completely
on the side of thewomen’s libbers.Totally.
Completely. Yes, 100percent,this is disgusting.
Andyet, Iamsomebodythat makes my living,
mostofmymoney, frombeingamodel [in
campaignsfor Chanel and others] and from
doingredcarpets.”
On the daywemeetinacentralLondon
hotel, she is impeccablygroomedinaLoewe
black jacket,with smokyeye make-up and
wavedhair.Therehavebeenmoments on the
redcarpet,she says,when she feltshe was in
“a dog show” with “f**king creepy cameras”.
Yetcompromisedprinciples arenoexcuse
forinertia. “You’regoing to findvery fewpeople
likeGreta Thunberg.[But]by going,‘OhGod,
therefore Ican’t sayanything’,then nothing is
going to happen,”she says.“Nothing’sgoing to
change in any direction whatsoever.”
Knightley maybebestknown forplaying the
romantic heroine inaslew ofperioddramas
–from2005’sPride&Prejudice(which earned
her an Oscar andGoldenGlobe nomination),to
Atonementin 2007(forwhich she was shortlisted
foraBafta andGolden Globe)andAnnaKarenina
in 2012. Butitwouldbe amistake to pigeon-
hole her.She hasincreasinglyembracedmore
complicated, unconventionalroles.
InColette(2018),she played the bisexual
French writerand music-hall star,whilein
David Cronenberg’sADangerous Method(2011),
hercharacter Sabina Spielrein was spanked by
CarlJung (MichaelFassbender),beforebecoming
apsychotherapist.Thereisnostrategybehind▶