Lee

Last night I went to see Lee at the Broadway because I will see any movie about World War II starring Kate Winslet!  It begins in 1977 with an unidentified young man (Josh O'Connor) interviewing the model turned photojournalist Elizabeth "Lee" Miller (Winslet) about about her experiences during the war.  At first she is somewhat recalcitrant but eventually describes, through flashbacks, meeting her future husband Roland Penrose (Alexander Skarsgard) while staying with her friend Solange D'Ayen (Marion Cotillard) in the south of France, moving with him to London, taking a job as a photographer working for Audrey Withers (Andrea Riseborough) at British Vogue, documenting the Blitz at the beginning of the war, fighting to be allowed to go to the front, and collaborating with fellow photographer David Scherman (Andy Samberg) to take photos of the Battle of St. Malo, the liberation of Paris, and the opening of the Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps.  She is traumatized by the horrors she sees at the camps but is even more frustrated by the fact that British Vogue refuses to publish her photos of what happened there and this eventually impacts her future relationships (which is shown when the identity of the man interviewing her is revealed).  Winslet is a brilliant actress and I read that she worked for nine years to get this movie made so it is definitely a passion project for her but I didn't like it as much as I thought I would because I didn't really connect to the character.  Miller is more concerned with telling the stories of her subjects than her own and Winslet portrays her with a stoicism (until an incredibly heartbreaking confession in the third act) that is probably accurate for the character but alienating for the audience.  My favorite performance is from, of all people, Samberg because his reaction to the camps as a Jew is very emotional.  I also really enjoyed seeing all of Miller's famous photos recreated throughout the movie and then shown next to the originals during the credits.  I was so excited to see this but, even though I didn't hate it, I ended up feeling a bit disappointed by how hollow it is.