LEE : Monday 28th October 2024

I saw the M Rated 'LEE' earlier this week, and this British biographical drama film is Directed by Ellen Kuras in her feature film making debut, and is based on the 1985 biography 'The Lives of Lee Miller' written by Antony Penrose. It saw its World Premiere showcasing at the Toronto International Film Festival in early September 2023, was released in the UK in mid-September this year, in the US at the end of September, has so far grossed US$15.5M and has garnered generally positive reviews. The film was a passion project for lead Actress and Co-Producer Kate Winslet, who started developing the film, and in October 2015, the project was officially announced with Ellen Kuras on board to Direct from mid-2020.

The film opens up during the late 1930's, as Hitler rises to power in Germany. Elizabeth 'Lee' Miller (Kate Winslet) leaves her artistic circle of friends and life behind in France, including Solange d'Ayen (Marion Cotillard), Paul Eluard (Vincent Colombe) and Nusch Eluard (Noemie Merlant), and travels to London after falling madly, and very quickly, in love with the artist Roland Penrose (Alexander Skarsgard), to whom she describes herself as being done 'living a life as the model, the muse, the ingenue, and only good at drinking, having sex, and taking pictures'.

The two embark on a passionate relationship, just as war breaks out in Europe. Already a well regarded photographer, Lee lands a job completing assignments for British Vogue magazine, where she takes photographs of the London Blitz by bringing the chaos and urgency of those air raids to the pages of a popular and well regarded fashion publication. However, she is shocked by the restrictions placed on female photographers, and the attitude of Cecil Beaton (Samuel Barnett) a British fashion, portrait and war photographer also working for British Vogue magazine at the same time. 

As Hitler’s regime takes over large swathes of Europe, Lee becomes increasingly frustrated that her work is constrained by rules dictated by men. Determined to be where the action is, she defiantly pushes back against the establishment and, with the blessing of her friend and Vogue Editor Audrey Withers (Andrea Riseborough), Lee overcomes enormous obstacles to get herself to the frontline of World War II, by using the excuse that as an American citizen she is not governed by stuffy British rules about what women should and shouldn't do. 

And so sent over to Normandy following the D-Day invasion of 1944, Miller was tasked with reporting on what she was told was the newly-liberated town of Saint-Malo. She traveled there only to find that the town was still being heavily fought over. Miller's military accreditation as a female war correspondent did not allow her to enter an active combat zone, but rather than leave she decided to stay, and spent five days on the front lines photographing as much of the Battle of Saint-Malo as she could. Her photographs included the first recorded use of napalm. 

Compelled to document the truth, she turns her lens in the direction of suffering, and slowly begins to reveal the horrific loss of life due to Hitler’s diabolical crimes against the innocent victims of his regime. Miller teamed up with American photojournalist David Scherman (Andy Samberg), a Life magazine correspondent, on many assignments, including the liberation of Paris, the Battle of Alsace, and the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Dachau. 

Scherman's iconic photograph of Miller sitting in the bathtub in Adolf Hitler's private apartment in Munich, with the dried mud of that morning's visit to Dachau on her boots deliberately dirtying Hitler's bathmat was taken in the evening on 30th April 1945, coincidentally the same day that Hitler committed suicide with his wife Eva Braun in his bunker in Berlin. 

Upon returning to London after the end of the war, her husband returns home bearing the latest edition of Vogue magazine in which she expected to see her photographic account and accompanying article on the horrors of what she witnessed in Germany, but there are none. She hurries across to the Vogue offices to see Audrey Withers for an explanation but she is not there, and so tears through a filing cabinet seeking out the negatives of all the images she sent back, and promptly sets about ripping them up and cutting them up with scissors. Audrey appears and explains that she was not allowed to go to print with her images as they were way too graphic. Miller breaks down, and storms out. A short time later sat on the steps outside the Vogue offices Miller speaks of a profoundly traumatic experience when she was just seven years old when she was left home alone with an adult male friend of her family. She says that she has had to live with that shame, fear, and fury, for all of these years and has never told anyone as she was raised to keep secrets. 

Throughout the film we return to 1977 and Miller's home at Farley Farm House, in Chiddingly, East Sussex where she is being interviewed by Antony Penrose (Josh O'Connor) about her time as a WWII photojournalist and recounting the stories behind some of the most influential photographs of that era. Miller is somewhat distant of Penrose only opening up when he agrees to tell her something about his life. At the end Miller says it's your turn and it's then that we realise that Antony Penrose is in fact her son, who tells her that growing up she always was distant, disconnected from him, and almost an obstacle to her life. Miller remarks 'that's disappointing'. She pulls out a box containing a lock of his hair from his very first hair cut, the first book she ever read to him, and the first picture he ever painted. As the camera pulls away, Miller is not there, but spread all over the floor are Lee's photographs that Penrose only discovered after her mothers death in 1977, when he came across them in the attic of Farley Farm House by chance. 

Lee Miller carried out this dangerous work for the sake of the female readers of Vogue magazine, from whom the reality of war was largely kept hidden, and in the process yielded an indelible series of photographs which to this day continue to shape how we view these events.

'Lee' is a fairly detailed character study of this icon of WWII photojournalism that charts her story from the late 1930's through until just after the end of the war. It is at times harrowing, emotional, thought provoking and funny, and Kate Winslet shines in the role of the conflicted, yet thoroughly determined Lee Miller, and appears in almost every scene. Ellen Kuras as former Cinematographer turned Director has crafted a biopic of a woman you may not have previously heard of, but through this film her enduring legacy is granted a new life which she so rightly deserves. Alexander Skarsgard is miscast as Roland Penrose and his dialogue comes across as stilted and barely interested, and Josh O'Connor comes across as the floundering Prince Charles - the role he played in 'The Crown'. Andrea Riseborough, Marion Cotillard and Andy Samberg are all first rate in their roles. 

'Lee' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

TAR : Monday 16th January 2023.

I saw the M rated 'TAR' at Sydney's Open Air Cinema at Mrs. Macquarie's Point overlooking the Sydney Opera House, Harbour Bridge and the city skyline, on Monday evening this week, ten days ahead of its Australian release on 26th January. This psychological drama film is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Todd Field whose previous two feature film making credits are his 2001 debut with 'In the Bedroom' and his 2006 'Little Children' which between them garnered the Writer/Director three Academy Award nominations, plus a further thirty award wins and another 108 nominations from around the awards and festival circuit for his complete body of work so far, including 'Tar'. This film saw its World Premier screening at the Venice International Film Festival in early September last year and its wide release in the US from the end of October, where it has so far recovered US$6.5M from its production budget of US$35M and has generated universal critical acclaim. 'Tar' has so far won fifty-six awards and another 200 nominations (some of which are still pending a final outcome).

The film opens up with 49 year-old celebrity virtuoso Lydia Tar (Cate Blanchett who also Co-Produces here) who is a multi award winning composer, only one of fifteen people to win the coveted EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) Awards and the first female chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, being interviewed by Adam Gopnik (Adam Gopnik) at The New Yorker Festival. During the course of the interview she promotes a number of upcoming new projects, including her pending live recording of Mahler's Fifth Symphony and her new autobiographical book 'Tar on Tar'. Lydia relies heavily on Francesca Lentini (Noemie Merlant) her Personal Assistant and former lover to manage her affairs, and Sharon Goodnow (Nina Hoss), her concertmaster violinist and wife. Later, Lydia has lunch with Eliot Kaplan (Mark Strong) an investment banker and conductor who with Lydia co-founded the Accordion Foundation to support and nurture aspiring female conductors. Amongst other things they discuss the interview, her technique, replacing Lydia's assistant conductor Sebastian Brix (Allan Corduner), and filling a vacant cello position in Berlin.

Lydia guest lectures a small graduate masterclass at the Juilliard School. She mocks the black indigenous person of colour and pangender student Max (Zethphan Smith-Gneist) for not taking interest in white composers like J. S. Bach, encouraging students to look past superficial differences and focus on the music itself. Max angrily storms out of the class. Before returning to Berlin, Lydia receives a package delivered to her at her hotel of a first edition of Vita Sackville-West's 1923 novel 'Challenge' from Krista Taylor (Sylvia Flote), a former Accordion fellow. 

Before a blind audition for the cello position, Lydia comes across young Russian hopeful Olga Metkina (Sophie Kauer) in the female toilets. Lydia is attracted to Olga and subsequently treats her favourably over others, including granting her a coveted soloist position in the companion piece to Mahler's Fifth, Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto. As Lydia intensively prepares for the recording, her relationships with Francesca and Sharon grows increasingly strained, as both can see her attraction to Olga. 

After increasingly frequent and desperate e-mails to Francesca, Krista commits suicide, and Lydia instructs Francesca to delete any and all text and e-mail correspondence from or about Krista and retains a lawyer, as Krista's parents plan to sue. Lydia informs Sebastian of his imminent replacement. He is naturally incensed, indicates that the orchestra is aware of her favouritism, and speculates that Francesca will be his replacement. Unperturbed by the accusations, Lydia remarks that she intends to replace Sebastian with a different candidate. Without advising Lydia, Francesca suddenly and without warning resigns upon learning that she will not be promoted. 

One day after rehearsing Olga's solo, Lydia drives her home, but Olga inadvertently leaves a small teddy bear behind in the car. Lydia calls after her but she does not hear so she follows her into an abandoned, dilapidated apartment building. Spooked by a dog in the basement, Lydia runs out of the building trips and injures herself on a set os stone steps that she was hurriedly climbing. She gets home where Sharon treats her facial wounds and lies to her wife and the orchestra the next day, claiming the injuries were from an assault by an unknown male assailant. 

An edited, out-of-context video of Lydia's earlier Juilliard class in which she admonishes Max goes viral, and an article with accusations against her appears in the New York Post. Lydia, accompanied by Olga, returns to New York to attend a deposition for Krista's lawsuit and to promote her book, where she is met by placard wielding angry protestors. During the deposition, it is implied that Francesca has shared damning e-mails with the plaintiffs. The Kaplan Foundation cuts its ties with Lydia. Olga declines Lydia's dinner invitation, saying that she is jet lagged and is going to sleep, but instead sneaks out dressed up to the nines for a night out on the town. 

Back in Berlin, Lydia is removed as conductor. Furious over the allegations, but more so at Lydia's lack of communication, Sharon bars Lydia from seeing their adopted six year old daughter Petra (Mila Bogojevic). Lydia retreats to her old studio and gradually becomes increasingly depressed. At the live recording of Mahler's Fifth Symphony she physically punches and kicks her replacement, before being restrained by two burly security guards and the sounds of disbelief coming from the packed concert hall. Lydia is told to lay low by her management company, and so she returns to her working-class childhood home on Staten Island, where it is revealed that her birth name is Linda Tarr by her brother Tony who chastises her for turning her back on her roots.

Sometime later, Lydia finds work conducting in the Philippines. Seeking a massage to ease her jet lag, she asks the concierge at the low-end hotel she is staying in for a recommendation. She is sent to a high-end brothel, where she is directed to select an escort from the 'fishbowl' where numerous young women are seated in a chamber orchestra-like formation, all with their eyes lowered towards the floor. One woman with the number five pinned to her chest stares into Lydia's eyes, her position the same as Olga's. Lydia rushes outside to vomit on the side of the street. With her new orchestra, Lydia conducts the score for the video game series 'Monster Hunter' before an audience of avid cosplayers. 

'Tar' is a very well made film and worthy of all the accolades bestowed up on it. Here Director, Writer and Producer Todd Field has crafted a film that takes us from the very pinnacle of Lydia's career when it appears she can do no wrong to the very depth's of her career when she is cast asunder and to all intents and purposes, cancelled! Cate Blanchett's performance is outstanding and rivetingly nuanced as she goes from the very highs of her conducting and musical scoring expertise to the depth's of despair having lost almost everything and starting over in the Philippines, all alone in the world. The energy, emotion and complexity with which she imbues her character, not to mention the 10% or so of her dialogue delivered in German, is exemplary and puts Blanchett firmly on a trajectory for Oscar glory later this year, having already won the Golden Globe and Critics Choice Awards for Best Actress earlier this month. My only criticism of the film is that at a two-and-a-half hour+ run time it does drag its heels in places and becomes just a tad repetitive. This film won't be for everyone, but for those more mature audience members looking for a break from the horror, action and Superhero fare offered up by studio's these days, you can't go far wrong with 'Tar'. 

'Tar' warrants four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-