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From Rose DeWitt Bukater (Titanic) to Clementine (Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind), from April Wheeler (Revolutionary Road) to her Oscar-winning turn as Hanna Schmitz (The Reader), Kate Winslet has created a gallery of iconic characters on the big screen. We can now add Lee Miller to that list.

Teaming up with cinematographer turned director Ellen Kuras, Winslet stars in Lee, an involving and powerful drama that shines a spotlight on a singular woman in the male-dominated field of war photography.

Lee Miller is the kind of colourful character a Hollywood screenwriter would have invented if she hadn't already existed. A former fashion model, lover of surrealist artist Man Ray, cohort of artists like Picasso and a renowned photographer, Miller had lived decades' worth of experiences before reinventing herself again after the outbreak of World War II.

Kuras' film picks up in England in 1977. An older Lee is being interviewed by a journalist (Josh O'Connor), who quizzes her about her combat photography. The film then spools back to France in 1938, where Lee lived the high life, topless sunbathing, picnicking and courting curator Roland Penrose (Alexander Skarsgård playing English), who would later become her husband. The carefree abandon is cut short as the Nazis occupy France.

Lee and Roland move to London, where London Vogue editor Audrey Withers (the ever-excellent Andrea Riseborough) commissions the photographer to document the war effort on the homefront. Lee yearns to be at the centre of the action so finagles her way into becoming an accredited journalist to cover the conflict on the battlefields of Europe.

Once embedded with the troops, she partners up with friend and LIFE war correspondent David E Scherman (Brooklyn 99's Andy Samberg, excellent) and their relationship becomes the heart of the film.

Kuras pulls no punches as Miller and Scherman document the concentration camps at Buchenwald and Dachau, the images becoming instrumental in alerting the world to the unspeakable horrors unfolding in Europe. Away from the front line, Miller and Scherman sneak into Hitler's apartment and, following some genial banter, Miller insists Scherman take a picture of her in Hitler's bathtub – the result is perhaps the photographer's most provocative, iconoclastic image.

Kuras is a perfect match for her subject matter. A documentarian like Miller, she is steeped in the notion of capturing reality with an unflinching eye. She has a feel for Miller's process, seizing on striking moments – but also knows how to put the audience centre stage in the theatre of war.

At the centre of it all, Winslet transforms completely into Lee, convincingly playing the character in different phases of her life. She invests the younger Lee with rebellion driven by a thirst for life, then beautifully conveys the tolls of trauma in later life.

It's a gritty but empathetic portrayal that sees Winslet working at the top of her game. Awards surely beckon.
 Ian Freer

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