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Colette (2013 film)

2013 film by Milan Cieslar

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionFeb 22, 2026
Entity authorityQ11773597 ↗
Source-derived summary

Colette, also released under the name Prisoner of Auschwitz, is a 2013 English language Czech-Slovak-Dutch war film written and directed by Milan Cieslar and starring Jirí Mádl and Clémence Thioly. It is set in World War II and based on the Arnošt Lustig book, A girl from Antwerp.

Plot

It is 1943 and Colette Cohen, a beautiful young Belgian-Jewish woman, is imprisoned in Auschwitz -Birkenau where she meets a fellow prisoner, Vili Feld, a Slovak-Jew, and they fall in love. They both experience the daily torture and slave labour in the camp, and one day Colette is selected for the gas chambers but is luckily saved by Vili, who tells her what to say so that she can avoid the sentence.

An SS official, Weisacker, who is captivated by her beauty, sends her to work as a seamstress at his manufactory, where she is granted a slight amount of protection in comparison to some other prisoners in the concentration camp. During her time, she falls more deeply in love with Vili and vice versa. They eventually decide that they are going to escape.

It is twenty-eight years since the war has ended. Vili, is now living in New York City, and recalls his relationship with Colette and the torture of their time in Auschwitz.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Colette (2013 film)” as 2013 film by Milan Cieslar. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Colette, film and Milan.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2013, 1943—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2013-09-12. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Colette, film and Milan providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Colette (2013 film)”, the useful work is to connect “2013 film by Milan Cieslar” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q11773597. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2013 and 1943.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

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  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Colette (2013 film)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Colette (2013 film) primary sources, Colette (2013 film) archive and Colette research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Colette (2013 film)”?
  2. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Colette (2013 film)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.