Before this morning, I had a broad, very generalized knowledge of who Lee Miller was. Now, thanks to this fantastic biopic directed by Ellen Kuras, based on The Lives of Lee Miller by Anthony Penrose and a powerhouse performance (would we expect anything less?) from Kate Winslet as Lee I find my imagination fired, and I’m already putting my library card to work to get a copy of Penrose’s book to read.

Just before the beginning of World War II, Lee had left behind her modelling career, a decade or two earlier, and now wanted to take the pictures instead of being the pictures, and with the rise of Hitler’s forces in Europe she wanted to document, she wants to see, she needs to see and share what is happening.

Winslet’s portrayal is nothing short of outstanding, evocative, and timeless. Her Lee is flawed but honest. She’s determined and pushes herself and those around her to their limits and beyond in her pursuit of documenting the war with her Rolleiflex camera.

She has a deep and loving relationship with Roland Penrose (Alexander Skarsgard) but he as a conscientious objector and fellow artist doesn’t want her to go to war. But that’s not going to stop Lee from going to see.

Working for Vogue, she finds herself paired with Life photographer David Sherman (Andy Samberg) as they become war correspondents and find themselves on the frontlines in the thick of the horrors of war and become one of the primary documentarians of the horrors of the Holocaust.

Winslet lets her face become the canvas for the images Lee captures, and we see her reactions, the way they affect her and the way Lee constantly pushes herself through this and more. The combat sequences are jarring, and the emotional punches of the concentration camps, despite our knowledge of the subject matter, are still heartbreaking in their portrayal.

Kuras and Winslet do not pull their punches, bring Lee and her world to vivid life, and constantly remind us that Lee is a woman in a male-dominated world, particularly war, and how she fights for every right, every shot, every moment along the way.

Kuras is an accomplished cinematographer and her eye for detail and composition is unquestionable, and it serves to evoke Lee’s world with a seeming ease that delivers a stunning, incredibly relevant tale that shines a light on the outstanding work Lee did, and the things she had to do to accomplish them, the sacrifices she had to make.

Lee Miller’s work lives on in her photographs and her family and Winslet does her and her story justice. I was completely captivated by this feature and was blown away by Winslet’s performance, Kuras’ direction, and the subject material.

Lee is one to seek out in theatres when it gets a wide release. Winslet is perfect, and Lee Miller’s name and work should be known to all.