Movie Number 33 of 2024
The Movie: Lee
The Cinema: Hoyts Victoria Gardens
Stars: 4
On leaving the cinema last night, Jay said "This could have been a lot more interesting if they looked at Lee Miller's life before World War II. She was friends with Picasso. She knew everybody in Paris at the time."
I disagree. I thought that Lee was fit for purpose, looking at the iconic photographer's life in this patch of time was just about right. Sure, it's not a perfect film, but it is very good, looking at Lee Miller's (Kate Winslet) life as she meets her English second husband (Alexander Skarsgard), her group of friends in France and her work with photojournalist Davy Scherman (Andy Samberg, in a rare straight role) and the incredible work she did as a photojournalist for British Vogue documenting WWII and some of the Nazi atrocities of the time. She was the first photographer to shoot the concentration camps at Dachau on its liberation. Photos which are now burned in most people's psyches.
This movie is Kate Winslet's passion project, although the movie doesn't come across as one. Miller was an iconoclast. A woman born out of her time. A hard-drinking, heavy-smoking woman without limits. Best known for being Man Ray's lover muse and having a stellar set of friends in pre-war Paris, Miller is incensed when she is not able to use her photographic talents om the front line. After some heavy badgering of her editor, Audrey Withers (Andrea Riseborough) she sets of for the front in France. It is here that she and her Life Magazine partner, Davey Scherberg document the horrors and humanity of war.
Counterpointing this is Lee being interviewed by a young journalist (Josh O'Connor). The stories of her life are told as she and the journalist work though her photos thirty years on. It's an effective way to provide a context to her life and works.
What I liked about this is that it was unflinching in the way that Lee's experience during the war was unflinching. Rarely without both a drink and smoke in her hand, she wheedles her way into many situations nobody in their right minds would want to be in. She was in St Malo while it was being heavily bombed. Famously, she was photographed taking a bath in Hitler's bathroom after his death. And the scenes at Dachau are visceral.
Ellen Kuras's direction is assured. Best known for her cinematography, her vision is assured and keeps in mind Miller's photographic aesthetics while keeping the action moving along. I was thoroughly engaged throughout the two hours of this film. This was not and effort, and somewhat surprising seeing that I'd come to the film after a red-eye flight that morning.
For art and history lovers, this is definitely worth a look. Jay and I disagree about the scope of the film, and that is okay. I think if you were to look deeper into Miller's life there would be enough material to create many films. For the moment, this one effectively managed to do the job it set out to do.
It's definitely worth a view.
I agree wholeheartedly with your summary. I think the journalist was her son. What a gutsy film and woman! Her inner strength was palpable and her relationship with Davy felt strong. They were there for each other! What an inner depth of emotion! Well written
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