Lee movie review

MOVIE TITLE:    Lee

This biographical drama about photojournalist Lee Miller takes a look at WWII through a woman’s eyes and hits theaters on September 27, 2024.

RATING:  R

LENGTH:  1 hour 56 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE:  B+

IN A NUTSHELL:

The movie was inspired by the life of Elizabeth (Lee) Miller.  Her family granted the production full access to the archives and trust.  It was based on the only authorized biography of her life called “The Lives of Lee Miller” written by her son Antony Penrose.

The film was directed by Ellen Kuras.  She had worked with Kate Winslet before on the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in 2004 and A Little Chaos in 2014 as the film’s cinematographer.  Kuras found the book about Lee Miller and thought Kate Winslet looked like her, so she shared a copy of that book with Kate, who didn’t read it until after she happened to buy an antique table owned by Miller and wanted to know more about her.  It was Kate who invited Ellen to direct the movie.  Kate was a very hands-on producer of the film.

Writing credits go Liz Hannah, Marion Hume, and John Collee.  Already, the film has been nominated for awards at various film festivals.

THINGS I LIKED:

• The cast is absolutely stellar and includes Kate Winslet, Alexander Skarsgard, Andy Samberg, Marion Cotillard, Josh O’Connor, Noemie Merlant, James Murray, and Andrea Riseborough, many of them handpicked by Kate herself. Check out that impressive list of Oscar nominees and winners! 
• We see several photos in the movie that were actual photographs Kate Winslet took while filming on set.
• The budget for the movie was small, so Kate Winslet personally paid the crew’s salaries for 2 weeks with her own money.  This was truly a passion project for her.
• Believe it or not, Lee Miller actually did take a photo of herself in Hitler’s bathtub in real life in 1945.  Several of Lee Miller’s other photos were recreated in the movie.
• Filming was shot in Dubrovnik, Croatia, as well as in Hungary.  I had the great pleasure of visiting Dubrovnik a few years ago.  What a gorgeous city!  I was just in beautiful Hungary last month!
• Yes, that’s Andy Samberg from Saturday Night Live!  We’re used to seeing him do comedy, but it turns out he handles drama pretty well too!
• I appreciated all of the little details like the way Kate Winslet knew how to use her camera, and when some of the characters wrapped fabric over their noses to show us how horrific the smell must have been when they opened a train compartment filled with dead Jews from the Holocaust.
• Be prepared to see some heart-wrenching imagery of WWII and the Holocaust in the last 30 minutes of the film.
• There is an intriguing twist at the end.
• Keep watching at the end to see photos and words on the screen that tell you more about the people involved in the events seen in the film and what happened to them afterward.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

• Quite a few film critics and fans have criticized the movie for being too “flat”.  I understand why they say that; however, it’s hard to call ghastly images of the Holocaust “flat.”  I thought the film was powerful and inspiring in many ways.
• A lot of biographies get criticized for playing with a timeline to tell the story.  This one follows suit.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

• This film is completely inappropriate for kids.
• We see several topless woman quite a few times in the movie, including Kate Winslet, who proved in the movie Titanic that she didn’t mind baring her chest.
• Smoking, alcohol.
• Unmarried people are seen in bed together, as well as talk about their intimacy.
• Some French is spoken with subtitles that must be read on screen.
• Profanity, including a few
• F-bombs
• We witness an attempted rape
• We see bloodied, dying soldiers
• We see pictures of dead, naked Jews

THEMES:

• Photography
• Modeling
• Storis of life and career
• WWII and the Holocaust
• Sexism
• Ambition
• We see bloodied, dying soldiers
• We see pictures of dead, naked Jews

FUNNY LINES:

• None worth noting.  This is a serious drama.

INTERESTING LINES:

• “Does it have to be so transactional?” – Antony Penrose  (Josh O’Connor)   “That’s what life is.” –  Lee (Kate Winslet)
• “That’s what models do: travel the world and try to be someone interesting.” –  Pablo Picasso  (Enrique Arce)
• “The problem is I don’t know who I am in Paris anymore.” –  Lee Miller (Kate Winslet)   “The question is who do you want to be now?” –   Solange D;Ayen  (Marion Cotillard)
• “How could you possibly know all there is to know if you stay in one place all the time?” – Lee Miller   (Kate Winslet)
• “Why can’t women go to the front line?” – Lee Miller (Kate Winslet)
• “There are different kinds of wounds, not just the ones we can see.” – Lee Miller  (Kate Winslet)
• “There’s so much light in a person’s eyes right up until there isn’t.” – Lee Miller  (Kate Winslet)

MOVIES LIKE THIS YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE:

• Civil War: The fictional protagonist in the movie is a photojournalist named Lee, after Lee Miller)  https://moviereviewmom.com/civil-war-movie-review/
• Freelance:  https://moviereviewmom.com/freelance-movie-review/
• The French Dispatch:  https://moviereviewmom.com/the-french-dispatch-movie-review/

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