Lee (2023 Film)

''Lee'' is a 2023 British biographical war drama film directed by Ellen Kuras in her feature directorial debut, from a screenplay by Liz Hannah, John Collee and Marion Hume, and story from Hume, Collee and Lem Dobbs, adapted from the 1985 biography ''The Lives of Lee Miller'' by Antony Penrose. It stars Kate Winslet as WWII journalist Lee Miller. The cast includes Marion Cotillard, Andrea Riseborough, Andy Samberg, Noémie Merlant, Josh O'Connor and Alexander Skarsgård in supporting roles.

The movie took eight years to make and, at one point, due to precarious funding, Winslet (who also produced the movie) paid the entire cast and crew's salaries for two weeks. The film made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 9 September 2023. It was released theatrically in the United Kingdom by Sky Cinema on 13 September 2024.

''Lee'' received generally positive reviews from critics and became Sky UK's highest-grossing original film. It grossed $23.5 million worldwide. For her performance in the film, Winslet received nominations for Best Actress at the Golden Globe Awards and AACTA International Awards. Additionally, the film received nomination from BAFTA for Outstanding British Film.

Plot

In 1977, Lee Miller tells her life story to an interviewer, and it is depicted in a series of flashbacks.

In 1937, Lee is a former New York City fashion model and aspiring photographer living a bohemian lifestyle in France when she meets and falls in love with Roland Penrose. She later moves with Roland to London, and gains employment with '' Vogue'' magazine during World War II, photographing Britons during The Blitz. Her ability to further document the war is restricted, due to the United Kingdom barring women from serving near combat. However, after the United States enters the war in late 1941, Lee is assigned as a war correspondent alongside photojournalist David Scherman.

Following the Normandy landings in June 1944, Lee photographs combat during the Battle of Saint-Malo, unknowingly recording the first wartime use of napalm. During the Liberation of Paris, she photographs members of the French Resistance publicly shaming French women who collaborated with the Germans. Lee finds her distraught friend Solange d'Ayen, who recently survived imprisonment and whose husband is still missing. Lee also reconnects with friends Nusch Éluard and Paul Éluard, who inform her of the thousands of people who went missing during the German occupation.

Lee and Scherman enter Nazi Germany, traveling the frontlines via Jeep and photographing their experiences. They document the immediate aftermath of atrocities committed at Buchenwald and Dachau. In April 1945, shortly prior to Germany's surrender, Scherman photographs Lee in the bathtub at Adolf Hitler's Munich apartment.

Returning to Britain, and with Roland also home from the war, Lee is furious when she discovers her photographs of the concentration camps were not published. Editor Audrey Withers explains the British censor prevented it, worried the photographs would distress an already traumatized population. Lee and Roland marry in 1947; their son Antony is born soon after.

The interviewer is revealed to be Antony, who only recently learned of his mother's wartime experience. Antony and Lee discuss his turbulent upbringing, including the effect of Lee's post-traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism on his adolescence. It is revealed that Lee is already dead and the interview was in Antony's imagination. A postscript to the film states that following the death of his mother, thousands of photographs and manuscripts were discovered in Lee's attic, out of which Antony and his wife Suzanna created the Lee Miller Archives.

Cast

Production

Development

The project originated when cinematographer Ellen Kuras was at a bookshop in New York and spotted a tome about war photographer Lee Miller. Kuras noticed a similarity between Miller and actress Kate Winslet–with whom she had worked in ''Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'' (2004)–and sent Winslet a copy of the book and kept another copy for herself. Years later, Winslet started developing a movie project about Miller and asked Kuras whether she would like to direct it.

The project was officially announced in October 2015, with Winslet attached to star as Miller. In June 2020, Kuras was set to direct the film–her feature directorial debut, with Liz Hannah adapting the screenplay from the 1985 biography ''The Lives of Lee Miller'', written by Miller's son, Antony Penrose, who supported the film and gave Kuras full access to his mother's personal archives, diaries, and even her unpublished work. The screenplay went through several rewrites. It was originally written by John Collee and Marion Hume from a story they developed together with Lem Dobbs, with Liz Hannah joining on later. Winslet also served as a producer on the film. She chose the screenwriters and was also in charge of finances and casting, even personally calling her co-stars.

The most significant development in the film came in October 2021, when Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Andrea Riseborough and Josh O'Connor joined the cast, with a crew including Alexandre Desplat as a composer, Michael O'Connor as costume designer, cinematographer Paweł Edelman and Ivana Primorac as head makeup and hair artist. In February 2022, Andy Samberg was announced as being part of the cast. He would be confirmed in October 2022 alongside additional castings including Alexander Skarsgård, who replaced Law in the role of Roland Penrose. Winslet wrote a letter to Cotillard asking her to play French Vogue editor Solange d'Ayen in the film. Winslet and Cotillard had previously co-starred in '' Contagion'' (2011).

Winslet said she was patronized by male executives when she was trying to get funding for the film. "The men who think you want and need their help are unbelievably outraging. I've even had a director say to me: 'Listen, you do my film and I'll get your little ''Lee'' funded...' Little! Or we'd have potential male investors saying things like: Tell me, why am I supposed to like this woman?", Winslet told '' Vogue''. During pre-production, Winslet covered two weeks of wages with her own money due to insufficient funds.

Filming

Filming began in late September 2022 in Croatia. Production paused for a short period that month when Winslet slipped during filming and was taken to the hospital. The accident happened on the first day of shooting, when Winslet slipped and injured her back while she was rehearsing a sequence where Lee Miller was running down the street in Saint-Malo under bombardment. Winslet decided to keep filming despite her back injury and barely being able to stand up.

Filming also took place in Hungary and wrapped in early December 2022.

Release

''Lee'' had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 9 September 2023. It was released theatrically by Sky Cinema in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 13 September 2024. In February 2024, Roadside Attractions and Vertical acquired US distribution rights to the film, originally scheduling the film for a theatrical release on 20 September 2024. The film's release was subsequently delayed by a week to 27 September.

Reception

Box office

The film was released to 605 theaters in the United Kingdom and debuted at number 3 at the box office, grossing $926,064 in its first weekend. For its second weekend, the film was expanded to 40 more theaters and grossed $2,4 million.

''Lee'' is Sky UK's highest-grossing original film at the UK box office. The film grossed $5.6 million in the United Kingdom, $5.3 million in France, $4.1 million in Germany, $2.7 million in Australia, $2 million in the United States, $1.1 million in the Netherlands, and a total of $23.5 million worldwide.

Critical response

Accolades

References

External links

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2023 biographical drama films
2020s British films
2020s English-language films
2020s French-language films
2023 directorial debut films
2023 films
2023 war drama films
British biographical drama films
British war drama films
British World War II films
Biographical films about photojournalists
Biographical films about war photographers
Films shot in Croatia
Films shot in Hungary
French-language British films
World War II films based on actual events
Roadside Attractions films
Vertical (film company) films
English-language biographical drama films
English-language war drama films