Lee

Kate Winslet produced as well as stars in the true story of Lee Miller, who swapped modeling for taking pictures, and put herself on the front line in the fight against fascism when WWII broke out. Lee refuses to play by the rules expected of women in her time; Winslet has never shied away from confrontational characters and she makes no apology for this one. Cinematographer turned director Ellen Kuras expertly recreates (and reproduces) many of Miller’s most famous photographs, to powerful effect.

Former fashion model; muse, lover and creative collaborator of the surrealist artist Man Ray; key member of a social circle that included the poet Paul Éluard and the artists Picasso and Jean Cocteau; a successful photographer: Lee Miller had already lived several decades worth of experiences by the time this fascinating biopic trains its lens on her life in the run-up to the Second World War. The first feature film from cinematographer Ellen Kuras is a satisfyingly textured portrait of a remarkable and unusual woman, who had an almost Zelig-like gift for bearing witness to key moments in history.

Miller (Kate Winslet, who also produced) is good at’drinking, fucking and taking photographs,’ and does all of them to excess. But the worldly and rather jaded Miller is now looking for meaning to anchor an uncertain existence. And with Europe in turmoil and the war about to ignite across the continent, photographing the frontline of combat seems to be the most effective way of channeling her skillset and her unusually fearless approach to life.

Wendy Ide, Screen International

Kate Winslet fills the part near to bursting as a beautiful iconoclast who found her vocation behind a Rolleiflex.

Thelma Adams, AARP Movies for Grownups

Kuras keeps her camera planted squarely on Winslet’s shoulders. Her Miller is impossibly beautiful, earthy, witty, and hard as nails. Winslet plays Miller as a woman who goes through life always on the defensive, ready to push back against misogyny on every level, and, most importantly, ready to bear witness to everything life has to offer: good, bad, and evil. Like Miller’s wartime photographs, Lee asks you to look at subjects you think you already know from a different angle and witness what should never be forgotten.

Mary E Gates, rogerebert.com