After starring in the series The regimeKate Winslet returns to the cinema in a film that will explore the life of Lee Miller, an iconic photographer who recorded devastating events in the Second World War. With the release of the first trailer by Roadside Attractions and Vertical, the public has had a look at read (title of the film) and the physical transformation of the actress to represent the most advanced years of her character.
The teaser immerses audiences in Miller’s complex life, from her days as a model to becoming a war correspondent for the magazine British Vogue. Miller covered the front lines during the years 1944 and [1945and portrayed the advance of the Allied forces as well as the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps.
The premise of the drama advances: “Determined to document the truth of the Nazi regime, and despite the adversities that loomed over the female correspondents, Lee captured some of the most important images of World War II, for which he paid a huge price”.
In the first scenes, a reflective Winslet can be seen impersonating Miller, who struggles to address the brutality of the war conflict with her camera in hand. Through flashbacks, defining moments are depicted, such as her determination to work from the front during the invasion of Normandy and her direct encounter with the horrors of war. In addition, the reluctance that the photojournalist faced when she proposed to carry out that work is addressed.
“We don’t send women into combat“, they tell him in the clip. “Well, that’s a problem, because I’m already here,” the protagonist responds.
The biopic will also address Lee, decades after his time in Germany. In this sequence, Josh O’Connor (The Crown) like a reporter interviewing the photographer. “Do you want the world to know about you?!” she asks. Lee replies, “Do you think I went to war so people would know my name?”
The project directed by Ellen Kuras also adds to Andrea Riseborough, Marion Cotillard and Alexander Skarsgård in the distribution. Its first screening was at the Toronto Festival, where it received mixed reviews. It will hit UK cinemas in September 2024.
The official synopsis places the action in the rise of Nazi power in Europe in the late 1930s, at which time Miller (Winslet) begins her relationship with art dealer Roland Penrose (Skarsgård). With the outbreak of World War II, Miller’s frustration grows due to the limitations imposed on female photographers, measures that confined her to working only in England. However, her indomitable spirit leads her to challenge those barriers.
“Immediately committed to documenting the truth, she turns her lens in the direction of suffering, and little by little begins to reveal Hitler’s horrific loss of life and diabolical crimes against the innocent victims of his regime”, describe the producers of the film.
Lee Miller, whose full name was Elizabeth “Lee” Miller, was born April 23, 1907 in Poughkeepsie, New York. Her career began in the fashion world in New York, but she eventually moved to Paris, where she became a photographer. A succession of elections sparked her vocation for photojournalism, profession that led her to document horrors and step into the home of Adolf Hitler himself.
This is how one of the most emblematic photos of the time emerged. On April 30, 1945, the day of the death of the German dictator, Lee Miller and the photographer of “Life” magazine, David E. Schermanwere in Munich and managed to enter the German leader’s private apartment.
Lee, in a gesture of triumph and contempt, used the bathtub to clean herself while her colleague took her portrait. The image also captures the boots full of mud on the ground, representing a kind of stain in the space that had previously been inhabited by the genocidaire.
