Lee - Review

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

KATE Winslet gives a typically impressive performance as world renowned American photographer Lee Miller in this passion project biopic. But the film itself struggles to make the leap from being merely good to great.

Made with the support of Miller's son, Anthony Penrose, and meticulously researched thanks to the access he provided to his late mother's archive, Ellen Kuras' film is at its most potent and memorable when focusing on the moments behind the actual photos themselves, many of them perfectly recreated by Winslet herself (who learned to use the Rolleiflex camera preferred by Miller herself).

Yet at other times, the film drifts into artistic licence and lacks the tightness and urgency that could have helped make it even more gripping. A framing device that finds a young man (played by Josh O'Connor) interviewing an older Miller feels unnecessary and diverting, despite the fact it gives rise to a double twist late on.

But this feels more like movie-making sleight of hand, than anything directly in service to telling Miller's story - which given what she achieved throughout her life (and especially during World War II), should have been enough in itself.

The film picks up as war threatens to rage across Europe, with Hitler's troops on the rise, yet with Miller and her artistic troupe of friends enjoying a lavish lifestyle in the warm glow of the Mediterranean sun. It's here that Miller meets one of her husband's, the artist and conscientious objector Roland Penrose.

But once war has broken out and her friends are forced into hiding back in France, Miller resolves to do what she can to help out, turning to her skills as a photographer to try and capture the reality of life lived under the shadow of conflict. At first, this entails capturing the Blitz and the home front effort in defending Britain. And it's how she is able to get her work into British Vogue and strike up a strong friendship with magazine editor Audrey Withers (Andrea Riseborough).

When she gets an opportunity to head into France and photograph from the frontline, however, she unites with Life magazine photographer David E Scherman (Andy Samberg) and embarks on a trauma-informed journey that gives rise to some of her most striking work, most notably capturing some of the first photos of the atrocities committed at the Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Dachau and then her iconic shot of herself taking a bath in Hitler's apartment.

It is during these sections of the movie that the film captures both the devastation of war and the effect it has on those in its path - from young girls found hungry and abused, to women who have their heads shaved for sleeping with the enemy, to the emotional toll it is thought to have taken on Miller herself.

Winslet captures this trauma brilliantly - her descent from vibrant artisan (who self-proclaims herself good at 'drinking, fucking and taking photographs') to haunted yet still defiant exposer of the true cost of war, is typically towering, yet brilliantly nuanced. It also affords the actress to reference Miller's abused past.

And it's here that the film has added relevance - both as an insight into the ongoing abuse and sexual degredation that many women continue to face today and as another shameful example of how society is often too quick to look away and move on, rather than confront the harsh reality of war.

As Miller herself states - how do the victims of atrocities and war move on? Her question delivered at a pivotal moment when her photographs were deemed too traumatic for publication in British Vogue. Yet it's a question that can easily be re-asked about the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East - and the indifference of media and certain politicians towards the suffering and death that continues to unfold.

Lee, the film, has insight and relevance aplenty. It also boasts strong performances from those around Winslet, most notable Samberg and Riseborough.

It's just a shame, therefore, that the film doesn't always play to its strengths and feels weaker at other times as a result. It's a good film, with some great moments. But it doesn't hit all of its marks with the consistency of Miller's own sharp focus.