Lee

Director: Ellen Kuras
Starring: Kate Winslet, Andy Samberg, Alexander Skarsgard, Josh O’Connor and Marion Cotillard
Distributor: StudioCanal
Runtime: 117 mins. Reviewed in Oct 2024
Reviewer: Peter W Sheehan

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Rating notes: Mature themes, violence, sexual violence, coarse language, and nudity

This biographical drama tells the story of an American photographer, Lee Miller, who gave up modelling work to be a war correspondent for Vogue magazine during World War II.
The film is the directorial debut of Kuras, and the story is adapted from a 1985 biography The lives of Lee Miller written by Miller’s son, British author, Anthony Penrose. Miller changed her career as a Vogue model to chronicle the events of WWII for Vogue magazine, and worked for the magazine as one of its photographers. Penrose gave Kuras full access to his mother’s personal archives, photographs and diaries. Winslet who takes the role of Lee Miller in the film was co-producer for the movie, and filming took place in Hungary.
Miller was responsible for extraordinary photos of the horrors of WWII, and she fought to publish her images of the frontlines of war. The film begins with Miller talking to a young journalist (O’Connor) about her life and frequently returns to their interaction as the film progresses. In the photographs she took of war scenes for Vogue, she documented the liberation of Paris, the aftermath of Nazi Germany, and the horrors of Nazi concentration camps. Appalling tragedy was captured by her images of the Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps, and Miller was one of the first civilians to bear witness to the atrocities that took place in both camps.
The film is a showcase for Winslet. She lives and breathes the character of Lee Miller. She captures Miller’s reactions commandingly, suitably expressing Miller’s outrage when Vogue refused to publish her photographs, because it considered them too upsetting. The visual language of the film is strongly reflected by Winslet’s acting style.
Winslet projects the indomitable spirit of a person who refused to let others define her, and she delivers an expressive study of a woman who was misunderstood. Throughout her life as a photographer, she remained determined to communicate the terrible horrors of war that she saw. This is a drama that movingly conveys Miller’s tough-mindedness and steely determination to analyse what it means to be human – we learn that childhood rape traumatised her life.
The film communicates graphical depictions of the horrors of war and its aftermath, and Miller battled strong sexism in the military. The film is visually driven and is a biopic of a woman who unquestionably deserves to be honoured. Kuras’ direction and Winslet’s acting are exceptional and do the memory of Lee Miller proud.
The film’s disturbing images are hard to watch but tell a story that needs to be told.