THEIR FINEST review

THEIR FINEST

starring Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin and Bill Nighy

directed by Lone Scherfig

A review by Helen J. Reynolds

A number of WW2 films are coming to the big screen this summer; from Brian Cox donning the infamous cigar in a Winston Churchill thriller, to Christopher Nolan giving his epic treatment of Dunkirk, so it would be easy to miss an understated British movie like Their Finest.  

Easy, but a mistake. This isn't a big movie (though the cast list is stellar) but it is one that will stick for all the right reasons. 

Reminiscent of The Artist, we're shown a somewhat nostalgic view of the movie industry, though during wartime Britain; the film opens with footage of a propaganda clip showing a woman's factory making bullets.

Catrin (Arterton) is hired to help write a movie with a female angle. The government wants something authentic with heroic romance and a fighting spirit - all so as to dazzle the Americans and induce them to join the war effort. The usual pitfalls ensue, added with bombs falling daily and buildings crumpling even as she types up the next draft. 

Women are 'out of their boxes' as the lesbian of the group states to Catrin, yet this is still very much a man's world. Evident in Catrin's partner, an artist loathed to see her earning rent money, or Richard E. Grant's uncomfortable amount of shoulder touching in one scene, or even Bill Nighy's hilariously pretentious 'none can do what I do, I'm an Actor,' who's only willing to listen after Catrin gives his ego its needed boost. 

There's relevance to this picture of the workforce even now, but the film balances this bleak outlook with Tom Buckley's character (Claflin) who think Catrin is 'mustard' and comes to treat her as his equal. A refreshing approach that veers away from having the female lead forced to be the best at all times. Tom and Catrin are both talented and bounce ideas off each other in a positive collaboration that, yes, unfolds into a romance - complete with moonlight scenes. Though, being typical writers, they communicate how they feel through their typewriters giving the film its quirky British-beating heart.

The film is everything it's characters are trying to make their movie be: the writing is beautiful, funny and clever with a clear message not to take life for granted. One moment a woman in a yellow dress is turning down a soldier with a careless laugh, the next she's lying in the rubble. Often, it's soldiers we see falling in wartime movies, but in this one you really see the randomness of hard times: no-one is safe and, of course, war affects us all. 

Bill Nighy offers relief, giving stupidity and charm like no other and has great chemistry with Helen McCrory who shines alongside him. Of course, the movie is nothing without its leading lady; Gemma Arterton bags another performance that shows she's a serious actress, picking her roles far differently now than in her early career. With glasses and a moustache, Sam Claflin is equally unrecognisable from his usual pretty boy figure and equally great.

Ultimately, it's a film that aims to please but doesn't hold back on the punches either. 

A combination of:
Atonement (2007)
The Artist (2011)
Hail, Caesar! (2016)
 

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