Lee

by Mike McGranaghan

Lee has the misfortune of opening in the same year as Civil War. Both films aim to celebrate the bravery of war correspondents and photojournalists. Whereas Alex Garland’s film really delved into the moral and ethical dilemmas of the job, Ellen Kuras’ biopic of Lee Miller gets sidetracked by its heroine’s personal life, which, while important, is far less gripping than the substantial work she did on the professional front.

The picture opens with Lee (Kate Winslet) telling us in voiceover that she’s always been really good at drinking, having sex, and taking pictures. We see those first two quite explicitly, as she sips wine while topless at an outdoor gathering of friends. The Vogue model decides to change tracks as Adolf Hitler’s reign grows more terrifying. She applies to get front line press access alongside colleague David Scherman (Andy Samberg) and, after a few sexist responses, gets it, making her the first woman ever to document a war at that level.

When it sticks to that idea, Lee is quite good. Winslet is superb as always, and watching her charge into a male-dominated field helps illustrate the magnitude of Miller’s accomplishments. Also effective is the way the movie depicts how her rebellious nature is inseparable from her vocational drive. One of the best scenes shows her posing for a self-styled photo in Hitler’s bathtub, just as a giant “screw you” to the Nazi leader, whose atrocities she’s spent years photographing. That kind of storytelling, in which a rule-buster makes a difference by bucking convention, offers undeniable satisfaction, especially when carried out by an actor with Winslet's range.

It's understandable to want to underline that rebelliousness with a look at the woman’s life outside of work. Although it certainly does complete the bigger picture of Lee Miller, the sections devoted to her romantic and sexual experiences are less potent. The relationship between Lee and her husband Roland Penrose (Alexander Skarsgård) lacks heat, and her friends Solange D’Ayen (Marion Cotillard) and Nusch Eluard (Noémie Merlant) are not developed enough to create the impact within the story that they’re intended to. There’s also a weak framing device wherein Lee tells her story to an interviewer (Josh O’Connor) whose identity awkwardly isn’t revealed until the end.

Those flaws prevent Lee from hitting as hard as it wants to. Winslet, Samberg, and Andrea Riseborough (as Lee’s Vogue editor) give stellar performances, but they can only carry the occasionally lazy plotting so far. Given the enormity of what she achieved, a Lee Miller biopic should be stirring rather than just intermittently interesting.

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