“Lee” (2023 production, 2024 release). Cast: Kate Winslet, Andy Samberg, Alexander Skarsgård, Marion Cotillard, Andrea Riseborough, Noémie Merlant, Josh O’Connor, James Murray, Vincent Colombe, Patrick Mille, Camilla Aiko, Samuel Barnett, Enrique Arce, Seán Duggan. Director: Ellen Kuras. Screenplay: Liz Hannah, Marion Hume and John Collee. Story: Lem Dobbs, Marion Hume and John Collee. Book: Antony Penrose, The Lives of Lee Miller (1985). Web site. Trailer.

Many of us often find ourselves in the pursuit of callings that may seem out of character or that we don’t fully understand ourselves. These ventures frequently require true commitment on our part, yet we may also find ourselves perplexed by their seeming inexplicability. And, if we think about walking away from them, we simply can’t bring ourselves to do so. So what’s behind these ostensibly obsessive undertakings? That’s something those of us in these circumstances must figure out for ourselves. In fact, it’s the key question that the protagonist must ask herself in the new, fact-based biopic, “Lee.”

Elizabeth “Lee” Miller (1907-1977) (Kate Winslet) led a curiously intriguing life. In the mid to late 1920s, she was one of the most sought-after models in the fashion industry. She was aggressively pursued by many of New York’s fashion artists and photographers, having graced the cover of magazines like Vogue. Her life as a fashion icon eventually spurred her own interest in photography, and, in 1929, she moved to Paris to study the art as a model and apprentice. While there, she made many high-profile friends in the art and fashion communities, such as Solange d’Ayen (Marion Cotillard), fashion editor of the French edition of Vogue, along with poet Paul Éluard (Vincent Colombe), painter Pablo Picasso (Enrique Arce), photographer/artist Man Ray (Seán Duggan) and writer/artist Jean Cocteau. She spent much time socializing with them as her modelling career began winding down in the late 1930s, a time when there was less call for “mature” women like her.

However, despite the enjoyment that came from this life of leisure, Miller grew somewhat bored with it. She had an unfulfilled burning desire to do something more meaningful with herself and her life than attend weekend getaways with her Bohemian friends. True, she was still practicing photography at this time, but much of it was focused on casual subjects, like candids of her peers. She was earnestly looking for something more.

While attending one of her gatherings of friends, Miller met British surrealist painter Roland Penrose (Alexander Skarsgård), with whom she quickly fell madly in love. Not long thereafter, the couple moved to his native London at the outset of World War II, where they both sought to embark on new careers. As a conscientious objector, Penrose kept himself out of active combat duty by drawing upon his background as an artist, assigned to work as a camouflage designer for the British military. But, even though Penrose had found his calling, Miller was still trying to find herself. Seeing that her partner was putting his talents to use in his work, she decided to try and do the same, approaching the staff of the British edition of Vogue to act as a photographer. Miller’s editor, Audrey Withers (Andrea Riseborough), gave her a try-out that produced some inventive, impromptu wartime-inspired fashion photography during the London Blitz, a project that landed her a full-time position with the magazine. Curiously enough, though, this launched Miller on an entirely new, unanticipated career trajectory – that of a combat photographer for, of all things, Vogue.

Initially, Miller tried working with the British military but soon found out that she, as a woman, would not be allowed to be one of the journalists embedded with the troops. And so, as an American citizen, she sought a comparable position with US forces, a request she was granted. While in this post, she became a friend and colleague of LIFE magazine photographer Davy Scherman (Andy Samberg), with whom she collaborated on numerous battlefield and front line assignments. Thus began Miller’s courageous career as an intrepid war correspondent covering the conflict in Europe. And, for her, once she committed to this venture, there was no turning back.

During the course of her efforts as a wartime correspondent, Miller was present for some of the most momentous events of World War II. She documented the intense battle for the French town of Saint-Malo after the 1944 D-Day invasion. She then went on to cover the heroic liberation of Paris and the Battle of Alsace. Then came the liberation of the German concentration camps of Dachau and Buchenwald, events that affected her profoundly but from which she could not turn away, convinced that the world needed to be made aware of what had transpired under Hitler’s Regime. She also became famous for a provocative photo in which she posed naked in the bathtub of the Führer’s private apartment in Berlin after his suicide and the city’s liberation by Allied Forces. The film features re-creations of many of these events, showing just how far Miller was willing to go to get the story and to document it for the world to see, regardless of whatever emotional cost it may have had on her. Indeed, who would think that this would be the kind of work that a fashion model would be cut out to perform?

“Lee” tells the protagonist’s story mostly through flashbacks intercut into an interview that an elderly Miller gave to a curious but mysterious young writer (Josh O’Connor) not long before her death in 1977. They discuss her experiences and examine the photos she took, many of which didn’t receive the kind of attention and recognition that they deserved at the time they were shot but that were now surfacing for the world to see in greater detail. Through her work, Miller gave us a prolific record of a terrifying time in human history, one that took its toll on her but that told the truth about things that many probably would have rather not wanted to know about but that they definitely needed to hear. Such is what comes from the call to commit – and the historic documentation to come from it.

So how is it that someone like fashion model Lee Miller would end up as an on-the-ground war correspondent? At first glance, these two endeavors would appear to be the height of incongruity, and many on either side of these ventures would probably make unlikely candidates to cross over from one to the other. Yet there she was, pursuing an undertaking that would likely leave most onlookers scratching their heads. So the question remains, why?

As becomes apparent through this story, much depends on Miller’s beliefs, and that’s important to recognize in light of the role they play in the manifestation of our existence, a product of the conscious creation process, the philosophy that makes such outcomes possible. It’s unclear whether Miller had ever heard of this school of thought; in fact, it’s not apparent that she even fully understood the beliefs that drove her and rendered these results, let alone appreciate how they made her reality possible. However, one thing is obvious – her beliefs provided the basis of her call to commit to her work, and that was undeniable given her passion, drive, stamina and unwavering dedication, no matter what the dangers or the personal cost to herself.

One could debate the precise nature of the underlying motives and intents that drove Miller. If any of them were paramount in her mind, it would probably be her devotion to the belief of revealing the truth of what was happening. During World War II, society generally did not possess the kind of instantaneous access to news and information about global events that we have today. Even the events of that day, which we now take for granted as common knowledge, were not readily known to the world at large at that time. So, in the wake of the atrocities occurring in Europe at the time – both on the battlefield and in the institutions employed to carry out Hitler’s Final Solution – many average individuals probably knew little about the unspeakable events that were transpiring. Miller believed that the horrors of war and crimes against humanity needed to be exposed for everyone to see. And she undertook this task in earnest to make them known.

Miller’s commitment to this cause was driven in large part by the notion that she needed to have something meaningful to do now that her modelling career was largely behind her. As entertaining as her gatherings with her friends were, they were comparatively inconsequential, and she felt she had a greater purpose to fulfill than engaging in socializing and participating in philosophical discussions and high society small talk. So, when the opportunity arose to employ her photographic talents as a war correspondent – a manifestation that she ultimately drew to herself through the power and focus of her beliefs – she jumped at it.

Even if Miller herself didn’t completely understand the nature of these beliefs, they nevertheless expressed themselves as manifestations of her true being. By pursuing this course, she lived out her destiny, a bona fide expression of her true self. Considering what she endured, Miller was conscientiously dedicated to following through on her commitment, even if it wore on her personally. That’s particularly true of what she saw – and captured photographically – during the liberation of the death camps, giving her pause to wonder how anyone or any society could be so unrelentingly cruel to one’s fellow man. Despite the wrenching pain and anguish involved in this, though, Miller believed she had to carry through on her documentation of what happened so that the world could witness the horrendous acts that had occurred. Difficult as that might have been, enduring such conditions was all part of Miller’s value fulfillment, the act of being her best, truest self for the benefit of herself and those in the wider world. And it’s a task she undertook with remarkable persistence, devotion and authenticity, now serving as a model of a different kind, one we should all be willing and capable of emulating.

There are times when many of us may feel compelled to pursue something for reasons that we don’t always fully understand but that we can’t walk away from, either, no matter what the personal cost may be. So it was for Miller, whose compelling accomplishments were unmatched in the field of wartime journalism. She left us a record that may be troubling to view but that also made us aware of humanity’s baser instincts, acts that we must truly never forget in the hope that we never repeat them. In chronicling Miller’s life, this engaging biopic from director Ellen Kuras details the hard choices she made, both personally and professionally, as well as her drive to document the difficult truths behind this deadly and unsettling conflict. While the picture has a tendency to be somewhat episodic at times, it nevertheless presents a series of intriguing back stories behind a variety of incidents from the storied career of this unlikely but widely regarded journalist. This offering’s fine period piece production design effectively captures the differences between the two diverse worlds in which the protagonist lived – the elegance of high fashion and the gritty wartime landscape – backed by Winslet’s superb performance (a strong awards season contender that has already earned the actress a much-deserved Golden Globe Award nomination) and the fine supporting portrayals from an excellent ensemble cast, including Riseborough, Cotillard and a surprisingly effective Samberg. These attributes aside, though, it’s somewhat mystifying how this release came and went from theaters as quickly as it did, having played ever so briefly in moviehouses. “Lee” truly deserved wider attention than it received, but, thankfully, it’s now available for streaming online.

It takes courage to stick to one’s convictions in a time of combat, especially when the potential cost to oneself is as high as it was for Miller. But the world is better off for her valiant efforts in showing us what we might have missed but about which we all desperately needed to know. Such is what often happens when we hear the call to commit, no matter what the field of undertaking might be. The drive behind such efforts can be inexplicably insistent, almost taking the form of a compulsion that many standing on the sidelines may have difficulty understanding. However, when we see what emerges in the end, the rationale behind such ventures generally surfaces to enlighten us to a greater truth. And, when that happens, we can all be thankful for the initiative that those noble individuals undertook on our collective behalf – and for a world made better off for their efforts.

Copyright © 2024, by Brent Marchant. All rights reserved.