50/27
Miller is denied entry to Hitler’s apartment because it is “for officers only”
Narrative
The story of American photographer Lee Miller, a model who became an acclaimed war correspondent for Vogue magazine during World War II. Based on “The Lives of Lee Miller”, the only authorized biography of Lee Miller’s life, written by his own son, Anthony Penrose, and published in 1985. War correspondents were given the rank of captain, so technically the US Army Guard should have granted him admission. Lee Miller: [handing a knife to a girl he just saved from rape] Next time, cut her.
Featured on The 7PM Project: October 21, 2024 episode (2024)
The end credits have some explanations of “what happened” and some of Lee’s original photographs, usually alongside those recreated for the film. It is a partial biopic of photojournalist Lee Miller (Kate Winslet) set in 1977 with flashbacks to 1938-1945. The film frames its story as an interview of Miller by a young man (Josh O’Connor) in 1977. Sequential flashbacks of Miller’s life begin in 1938 and then follow.
Her friends include Jean (Patrick Mille) and Solange d’Ayen
Miller is an American former model who took up photography as an art form and falls in with an artistic audience in France, where she lived for a time. She meets Roland Penrose (Alexander Skarsgard), a Quaker artist and poet in Britain. He too is part of their artistic community and they begin a relationship. Miller moves to London, where he gets a job at British Vogue magazine edited by Audrey Withers (Andrea Riseborough).
By the end of the film, we learn more about her motivation
After the start of World War II, Miller finds her way to the front as a war photojournalist for Vogue. “Lee” describes some of her dramatic experiences, which resulted in memorable photographs of battles, the capture of Berlin and concentration camps, often together with a Life magazine photographer, David Scherman (Andy Samberg). Miller’s personality is strong-willed and at times impulsive as she deals with smoking and drinking. “Lee” is very one-dimensional, though Kate Winslet’s strong performance reflects a complex and troubled personality.
There are many characters with shallow development, leaving Winslet alone
The lack of context also hurts, as her past is vaguely referenced (she was married to an unnamed man during the war) and we learn nothing about her life after the war (she married Roland). Thus, “Lee’s” limitations arise from how various screenwriters have adapted the 1985 biography.