Currently in US cinemas
The story of Lee Miller, American photographer, through her time in Europe before, during, and after World War II, showing her working during the war, on the front and visiting concentration camps after the war.
Written by Liz Hannah, Marion Hume, and John Collee (based on a story by Hume, Colleem and Kem Dobbs, based on the biography by Miller’s son Antony Penrose), and directed by Ellen Kuras, this biography of an important figure in the photography and art worlds as well as in recording history during World War II is one that is poignant, unflinching, and done with just the right touch. The film is dark and difficult at times and the writers and director are not afraid to go with Miller where she went and take the hard looks she did at difficult subject. The film also has moments with her friends and family, showing the human behind these difficult photographs. The writing here is solid, the direction is done with a strong, yet thoughtful style, showing that the director wanted to give a complete portrait of a woman living, creating, and evolving in a beyond difficult time period. The work here is stunning and balanced just right. The subject is dark, yet the film manages to make it something that pulls the viewer in.
The cast here is led by Kate Winslet who is superb here. She’s calculated, yet natural, nuanced, yet in your face when needed. She gives one of those performances that sells the whole film no matter what. She’s the start, but she erases herself to give Miller the spotlight, making the film hers, yet sharing scenes with colleagues in ways that are connected and generous. Her performance here sells the whole movies. Then again, so does everyone else. Marion Cotillard is shining here, stealing every single scene she is in, even with Winslet in them with her. She is an actress who usually stars and here she gets just a few scenes, of which she makes the most. Another great performance is Andy Samberg as war photographer David Sherman, a character who is much more affected by the war than most of the others, in a very different way. Samberg plays him just right, pulling the viewer into Sherman’s plight, making his part (and himself) shine without even trying. The parts where they visit the now “empty” concentration camps are heart wrenching in large part to Samberg’s reactions to the scenes they witness. His work here is something else. The rest of the cast is peppered with known actors such as Alexander Skarsgård as Roland Penrose (Lee’s spouse), Josh O’Connor, Vincent Coulombe, and many more all giving excellent performances.
In a film such as this with a central subject of a war photographer, one of the first female war photographers (and possibly the first one to go on the frontlines), the cinematography here is of utmost importance. With a director of has done cinematography on beautiful films (such as I Shot Andy Warhol and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) as well as the subject being a renown and acclaimed photographer, the cinematographer’s job here is one highly under pressure. This job went to Pawel Edelman who did amazing work here. From the French countryside romance to the difficult images of war, Edelman’s work here is phenomenal. The framing and use of lighting, the way everything is filmed here works just right for the film. Of course, there is a lot more to the film including careful recreations of photos from Miller’s career, great wardrobe and set dressing, everything here was clearly carefully planned and studied to make it all just right.
Lee is an unflinching and amazing film about an important figure in the photography world may it be for her fashion work or her war photography or any other work she did. She was a fascinating woman, a strong human, a person who wasn’t afraid to push boundaries and break barriers. This film does her justice and uses her biography by her son to make sure it’s as close to her as her family would have wanted. The film resulting from all the above listed talent is touching, difficult at times, joyful at others, showing the realities of women in the early 1900s and showing how one woman could push hard enough to create change in her field and within what is allowed and not allowed when it comes to photojournalism.