Shadows on the Wall

Lee

dir Ellen Kuras
scr Liz Hannah, Marion Hume, John Collee
prd Kate Solomon, Kate Winslet, Finola Dwyer, Andrew Mason
with Kate Winslet, Josh O'Connor, Andy Samberg, Andrea Riseborough, Alexander Skarsgard, Marion Cotillard, Noemie Merlant, Vincent Colombe, Patrick Mille, James Murray, Samuel Barnett, Arinze Kene
release US Oct.23 afi
23/UK Sky 1h56

TORONTO FILM FEST

Is it streaming?

Noted photographer Lee Miller is the subject of this detailed biopic, which centres on a pivotal period in time to deliver an emotional punch. Director Ellen Kuras approaches the story skilfully, finding clever personal touches in intense set-pieces, even if the script is never particularly ambitious with the material. And Kate Winslet delivers another powerfully invested performance as a multi-faceted woman who plotted her own course through life.

A model in the 1930s, Lee (Winslet) starts using cameras in 1930s Paris, hanging out with an art-scene crowd that dismisses the rise of Hitler as just another nutcase. Moving to London with her gallery-owner boyfriend Roland (Skarsgard), she watches war break out on the continent, yearning to shoot images of the front line. Even though women are forbidden from covering the battlefield, she finds a way to get there, teaming with Life photographer David Scherman (Samberg). As the war ends, they are among the first to discover what went on in the Nazi camps.

Using a framing device, anecdotes are recounted by Lee in the 1970s as she speaks to inquisitive journalist Antony (O'Connor). This cross-cutting removes much of the narrative momentum, and some elements don't quite work, but the approach does provide a larger story arc that has a nice kick to it. Still, the film is strongest in its individual scenes, especially the later ones as Lee and David confront the unfolding reality of what Hitler was doing in Europe, starting with Lee's friends in the recently liberated Paris and moving on to their horrific discoveries at Dachau.

Winslet fully embodies Lee as a woman who asserted her independence at a time when women weren't allowed to so. Her relationship with Skarsgard's oddly clipped Roland is lusty, but it pales in comparison to her sparky, involving camaraderie with David, who is played with nuance by a surprisingly subdued Samberg. Riseborough has terrific presence as British Vogue editor Audrey Withers, while Cotillard and Merlant get strong (if brief) moments as Lee's French cohorts.

Scenes with the always superbly internalised O'Connor provide some emotional texture that might have been more strongly integrated into the main narrative. And several side characters are lost along the way, but this adds to the complexity of the experiences of both living through and chronicling a war. Thankfully, the film maintains Lee's prickly personality, which offers insight into the way she was able to find such resonance in her indelible photographs.

themes, language, violence 28.Oct.23 afi

R E A D E R R E V I E W S

Still waiting for your comments ... don't be shy.