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| Image courtesy SKY Productions. |
Famed war photographer Lee Miller got some unexpected attention this year in Alex Garland’s Civil War. Kirsten Dunst’s character reveals she was named after the pioneering photojournalist, who was one of the first to photograph concentration camps during WWII. Dunst’s photojournalist echoes so much of Lee Miller’s approach and philosophy by demonstrating Miller’s command, ‘Don’t look away.’
Those unfamiliar with Miller’s work can see more of it in this fall’s Lee, which uses her photos from before and during WWII to tell her story. Kate Winslet gives a strong performance as the brash, sometimes impulsive photographer in this biopic that uses all the familiar formulas for this genre. An attempt at narrative creativity during the third act tries to do something new, but it’s fumbled, leaving the viewer having to connect the dots.
Miller’s actual photos are used to pace the film when a young man (Josh O’Connor) sits down to interview her in 1977, towards the end of her life. Winslet excels during these scenes, telling the stories behind the photos and drinking. The viewer is dropped into Miller’s earlier life while she is hanging out with surrealist artists, including Pablo Picasso, in France before it was occupied. These longer flashback scenes reference her previous life as a model and her start in photography.
The film unfolds as so many other biopics do, with scenes of Miller reminiscing on her photos and the young man asking more questions. While there are some moving moments between these two, the most moving come during the WWII flashbacks.
During the start of the war, Miller’s job as photographer for Vogue Magazine in England got her started as a war photographer, but she wanted to be on the front lines. Much to the worry of her partner, surrealist painter Roland Penrose (Alexander Skarsgård), she finds a way to go back to France. There she gets paired up with former colleague and fellow war correspondent David Sherman (Andy Samberg in his first dramatic role).
Sherman and Miller roadtrip together to Germany, being some of the first to photograph the atrocities there. Perhaps the most entertaining and moving scene is the set up to one of Miller’s most famous photos: herself bathing in Hitler’s apartment in Munich. Other scenes that build up to this aren’t as moving, with many of the scenes using cliche dialogue or what has become standardized scenes from the biopic genre.
Many supporting actors aren’t given much to do. Skarsgård seems to only be around to deliver his ‘smolder’ look, and Marion Cotillard plays a French duchess with one brief scene to depict how the occupation affected the elite.
While the scenes of Miller and Sherman at a concentration camp are well-constructed and effective, a narrative choice in the third act of the movie isn’t. Also, a significant event in Miller’s childhood is mishandled for dramatic effect. These two things detract from the power of Miller’s story, her philosophy, and her work. Had these elements been better integrated into the storyline, Lee could have been as bracing and powerful as the pictures this photojournalist is famous for.
- Eric Beach