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◀her choice of films,she insists.“Ir eadscripts
and Igo, ‘Yes,Iwant to di ve intothat.’”
At just 34, Knightleyalread yhas 28 years
of acting behind her.Asadyslexic child
growing up inTeddington, south-west London,
her parents (Will Knightley, an actor ,and
SharmanMacdonald,anactor,screenwriterand
playwright) encouragedher to actasarewar dfor
studying. Her breakoutrole was in 2002’sBendIt
LikeBeckham,acomedyabout girls’football.
Sport hadbeenher “feministawakening”,she
says.“Iwas reallygood at football and, suddenly,
looking and going,‘Waitaf**kingsecond,
Icouldn’t be aprofess ionalfootballer.’”
While Knightleyisr efreshingl ycandid
abou ther views on many things, speeding
throughanarrayofs ubjects, including nudity,
motherhood and#MeToo, shehas learnt to
prot ecther privacyaround certainaspects of
her life. Early successtookits toll, and at22 she
sufferedmentalhealth problems.“Fame.Tricky
thington avigate. ”Why?“Thatisaverylong
conversation,”she replie s, politelybut fir mly
movi ng th ediscussion on.
What drew her toMisbehaviourwere the
interwoventhemesoffeminismand racism,
whichlift the script aboveasimple narrative
of plucky feminists(good)versus sexist men
(bad).We seeMissWorld founderEric Morley,
playedbyRhysIfans, tryin gtoa vert aboycott
and appease the anti-apartheid movement
by addingablack South African contestant –
Miss Africa South–toSouthAfrica ’s white entry.
It als oshows howthe media’s focus on thewhite
favourites–MissAmericaand MissSweden
–meantthe black contestantswere initially
overlook ed,including Miss Grenada (played by
Gugu Mbatha-Raw), whowent on to win, and
Miss Africa South, who came second.
The whiteWomen’s Liberation activists
seethe competitionasdegrading.Forthe
blackcontestants,itisanopportunity.
As Mbatha-Raw’s Miss Grenadatells Knightley’s
SallyAlexander: “I look forwardtohaving your
choicesinlife.”
Knightley was intriguedbythe film’s“twovery
distinctpoint sofv iew.. .itd oesn’t judge. It doesn’t
tell youwhattothink.It’sdealing with feminism,
and intersectionalprivilege and racism. It felt
very current,and yetitw as 50years ago.”
Isay that the scene showing thebeauty
pageant contestants lining up on stage, and‘Now,it’sInstagram.It’show
manylikesdoy ougetfor
your‘belfies’,bumselfie...
It’ssocomplicated’
Bend It LikeBeckham(2002) Pride&Prejudice(2005) Atonement(2007) ADangerous Method(2011)Activist Sally Alexander (Knightley) with MissGrenada(Gugu Mbatha-Raw) inMisbehaviour(2020)FT.COM/MAGAZINE MARCH7/82020 23turning around to showtheir swimsuit-encased
bottoms,felt shocking. Knightleycounters:
“Now,it’sInstagram.It’show many likes do you
get foryour...‘belfies’,bum selfie. It’s thederrière
part of thebeauty pageant.It’ssocomplicated.”
Many of the themesofthe 1970sare re levant
today,shecontinues.“Wewantalovelylittle
storycycle where [there] is the problem, and
then it was fixed.Changetakes averylongtime.”
Misbehaviouris unusualin that it was written
by women (Rebecca Fraynand GabyChiappe),
producedbywomen(Suzanne Mackieand
Sarah-Jane Wheale), and directedbyawoman
(PhilippaLowthorpe).“Female directors areheld
to ahigher standard than men,”Knightley argues.
“Unless theirfirst filmisperfect, and it makes
money, and it gets critical success,they’ re not
givenanother film.Menare givenmuchbigger
leeway.”SilentNight,her next film –whichshe
describes intriguinglyasLove Actuallymixedwith
Lars vonTrier –isalso madeby afemale director,
Camille Griffin. She is hungry towork on more
female-ledfilms.“[Women’s]storiesaren’tbeing
told from ourpoints of view.It’sshocking.”
BeforemakingMisbehaviour,Knightleyknew
nothing about second-wave feminism,whichwas
making wavesinthe 1960s and 1970 s, aside from
“anecdotalstuff”fromher mum. As part of her
research, she spent time with SallyAlexander,
whoisnow an eminent feministhistorian.
Alexander handedherTheCommunistManifesto,
to getaflavour of the kind ofbooks she was
reading at the time.Knightley admitsshe has
yettofinish it.Oneasp ectoft he1970slifeportrayedinthe
film that appealedwas communalliving,which
Knightley declares “soundedlikeareallyf**king
good idea”. She livesinnorthLondonwith her
musician husband,JamesRighton, formerlyof
theKlaxons.“Being amotheroftwo very young
children[agedfour,and fivemonths]–one adult
to twoyoung children is not enough.Two adults is
still quite [hard]. Three,you start going, actually,
this is doablewith three.Any morethan three?
F**kingbrilliant.”
In 2018, Knightleywrote apowerful, visceral
essayabout herexperience of motherhood and
working in film, entitled“TheWeaker Sex”.
“Myvagina split,” she wrote of childbirth and
thestitches she neededafterwards.“Youcame
out withyour eyes open. Arms up in the air.Screaming. Theyput youontome, co vere din
blood,vernix,your headmisshapen from the
birthcanal.Pulsating,gasping,screaming.”
Birth, in all its gunkymess, is overlookedby
storytellers,she says.Weare squeamishover
that ,whilethe blood and gore of war and violence
isaregular featureonscreen.“It’showwe allgot
here. It’swhat half of thepopulation do.It’swhat
no man can in anyway physicallyunderstand,
can comprehend in anyphysical way, or
emotional way, or hormonal way. And it’sstories
that we don’t tell. Partlybecause our storytellers
aremen. And it’s the one part of our lives, of our
bodies, that theyhavenoway to understand. And
yet, we don’t talk aboutit.”
WhenIask if she finds motherhood hard,
she looks at me likeI’m bonkers.“Doesn’t
everybody?”Inod. “I don’t thinkyoucan fully
comprehend untilyoustart doing it,that it is the
most difficult thingthatyou areevergoing to do
in your life. Birthisjust thebeginning of it.Birth,
yes. And then, whathappens afterwards? Then
the sleep deprivation, and thesleep deprivation
whenyour bodyisripped to piecesand you’re still
trying to heal.And you’ve got asmallbeing that
is entirelyreliant onyou. Andwe live in asociety
whereyou’remeanttopretend thatyou’re able
to do that, and you’re fine, andyou’re on topofit.”
Being anew mother is“difficult and
wonderful”, she says.“Youcan be crying one
minute andlaughing the next.” Going back to
work when her first child was fourmonths old,
travellingoverseasawayfromfriends and family
was,she says,amistake. “It wasvery difficult.”
When she had heryoungest,she stayedput.
The problemwith onlyseeing idealisedimages
of motherhood,she says,ist hat new mothers
feel desperatelyalone, or likefailures for finding
it hard.“You’re an entirely differentperson[by
becomingamother]. Butthat transition tobeing
an entirely differentpersonisn’t easy. That idea
that any of that shouldbe easy, thatits houldbe
seamless,Ifind itreallyoffensive.”
Having childrenhas changedher professional
life in one significantway –she will no longer strip
off in front of thecamera. “The nipplesdroop,”
she says.“Ia lwaysfelt completelycomfortable
doingitwhen Iwas younger.Ineverdid anything
that Ididn’t feel comfortable doing. I’mreally
happywithmybody. It’sdoneanamazing thing.
But Ialso don’t want to stand there in front of a
whole film crew.”
The internet is alsoafactor.“It usedtobethat
you’ddoasex sceneinisolation with the film,
and itwouldmakesense.And maybeacrappy
paperwould put it somewherebut,ultimately,
that would be it.But now, youcan takethe whole
thingand put it inacompletelydifferent thing,
and it’sonsomeporn site.”
Iask about #MeToo andthe lack of diversity
in the nominees (and winners)atthisyear’s
Baftas and Oscars. “It’sgoing to takeavery long
time in Hollywood,asit[does]everywhere
else.” Has shebeenunderpaid compared with a
malepeer?“Ihaven’t known,”she says.“Partly
because it didn’t feel like thatwas afight that
could have beenwon.Ihaveknownrecently that
I’ve beenpaid thesame and more. So,that’s good.
I’ll takethat.”“Misbehaviour”isr eleased in cinemas onMarch13.
AnnaKarenina(2012) Colette(2018) EmmaJacobs is an FT features writerARMANDOGALLO/ZUMA/EYEVINE;PARISATAGHIZADEH; ALAMY