"Forget the mists and mellow fruitfulness," said Robbie Collin in The Telegraph. "Autumn at the cinema is the season of ripening biopics with designs on the Oscars" – and this year, "Lee" is first to be plucked.
Starring Kate Winslet, it is a "handsomely upholstered account" of the life of Lee Miller, the American model-turned-war photographer who accompanied US forces as they advanced through northwest France and into Germany in 1944-45.
Painting events in 'the clunkiest of manners'
Winslet has been fighting to get this film made for nine years, and she is ideally cast; it's just a pity that her co-stars (Alexander Skarsgård, Marion Cotillard, Andy Samberg) are given much less to work with, and that the film doesn't do more to interrogate who Miller really was, or the nature of her work.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
I was sorely disappointed, said Alexandra Shulman in the Daily Mail. Winslet plays Miller as "a ball-breaking, badass woman, taking on all comers with a gruff quip and a flick of a cigarette"; whereas Miller was, in my view, far more "inscrutable and enigmatic" – an "icy sphinx who had been raped at the age of seven by a family friend", and who went into modelling after posing nude for her photographer father.
This film fails to capture her "essence", and paints events in "the clunkiest of manners, avoiding any of the style and nuance that made Miller exceptional".
An infuriating 'and then' film
It's also one of those infuriating "and then" films, said Kevin Maher in The Times – as in, "and then" Miller moved to France; "and then" she pivoted to photography; "and then" she photographed the liberation of Dachau.
Meanwhile, poor Skarsgård, playing her upper-class English husband, is "humiliated" by his attempt at an English accent; he sounds "less Noël Coward, more Dutch football commentator".
-
Groypers: the alt-right group pulled into the foregroundThe Explainer The network is led by alt-right activist Nick Fuentes
-
10 concert tours to see this upcoming fallThe Week Recommends Concert tour season isn't over. Check out these headliners.
-
How to put student loan payments on pauseThe Explainer If you are starting to worry about missing payments, deferment and forbearance can help
-
A tour of Sri Lanka’s beautiful northThe Week Recommends ‘Less frenetic’ than the south, this region is full of beautiful wildlife, historical sites and resorts
-
Giorgio Armani obituary: designer revolutionised the business of fashionIn the Spotlight ‘King Giorgio’ came from humble beginnings to become a titan of the fashion industry and redefine 20th century clothing
-
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale – a ‘comfort’ watch for fansThe Week Recommends The final film of the franchise gives viewers a chance to say goodbye
-
The Paper: new show, same 'warmth and goofiness'The Week Recommends This spin-off of the American version of The Office is ‘comfortingly and wearyingly familiar’
-
Rachel Jones: Gated Canyons – ‘riotously colourful’ works from an ‘exhilarating’ painterThe Week Recommends The 34-year-old is the first artist to take over Dulwich Picture Gallery’s main space
-
Born With Teeth: ‘mischievously provocative’ play starring Ncuti GatwaThe Week Recommends ‘Sprightly’ production from Liz Duffy Adams imagines the relationship between Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe
-
Art review: Lorna Simpson: Source NotesFeature Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, through Nov. 2
-
Jessica Francis Kane's 6 favorite books that prove less is moreFeature The author recommends works by Penelope Fitzgerald, Marie-Helene Bertino, and more
