The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year, but with difficulties in getting distribution, it was only released this year. Kate Winslet, one of the great actresses in the industry, read the book The Lives of Lee Miller, which gave rise to this adaptation, and sent it to some studios and directors to produce.
Once the go-ahead had been given, they began recording, where they came up against a very limited budget, from which the actress herself took money out of her pocket to pay the crew's wages, in order to get the project off the ground at any cost. So, once it was finished, she got some partnerships and had her film released at festivals, but with lukewarm first impressions and reactions, which made it very difficult for the production to get distribution for theatrical release.
In the film, we learn the story of Lee, a model and photographer who lived in London during the Second World War, working for an important fashion magazine and living a very bohemian life, where she frequented the most diverse circles of artists, among other important figures of the time, especially the French. However, during the outbreak of war, Lee, as an American, obtains a visa to enlist and go to the front line of the war to record the greatest atrocities committed by the Nazis in human history.
The film is the directorial debut of Ellen Kuras, a director of photography whose most notable work was in the film “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, in which she worked with Kate Winslet. Here we see a lot of the star at the center of the narrative, the secondary characters always come and go, and few are used very little, or leave a marked impact on the film - in other words, we have here a real “Oscar Bait”, a term used for a production aimed at the main awards of the film industry, whatever it may be, here clearly to highlight Kate's performance as Lee.
Lee is a drama/biographical film set against the backdrop of the Second World War, but due to the limited cost of production, it is unfortunately blatant on screen and due to this problem I had some problems connecting with the film, such as the very poor production design and costumes, which is why there are too many close-ups in the moments of combat,Since the movie didn't have the money to hire many extras or show many details of the settings, the movie focuses more on Lee's reactions during her recordings, which is a shame since we see very few movies with female perspectives during this period, we have some like Sofia's Choice, but this one focuses more on romance.
It's a pity the important story of Lee hasn't been given the recognition and investment it deserves in terms of her achievements and legacy for British journalism and especially for women. I hope that the release of the film will at least encourage people to do more research into her legacy, and that the book written by her son, the basis of this project, will be revisited and sell well.
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