Their Finest

Dir: Lone Scherfig

2017

***

Based on Lissa Evans’ 2009 novel Their Finest Hour and a Half, Lone Scherfig’s Their Finest is a strong adaptation of the source material but unfortunately, it’s so good, it only serves to highlight the huge flaw within it. When reading a book, the reader’s imagination can be key in filling in certain details. An author can describe a characters physical appearance and the type of person they are but they will always be slightly different depending on who is reading. Lone Scherfig’s direction is sublime and Gaby Chiappe’s screenplay works really well. Indeed, Lissa Evans’ story is wonderful but where in the film the romance between the two main characters is integral to the fluidity of the story, in the film it is the big thing wrong with it. The film is loosely based on the work of Diana Morgan who was a Welsh screenwriter who worked at Ealing Studios through the 40s making propaganda films. In the film, Morgan is represented in the character Catrin Cole, played by Gemma Arterton. Mrs Cole lives with a struggling war artist who is unable to serve due to a previous war injury. Both struggle to make ends meet so Mrs Cole, who has had a couple of written pieces published, goes for a secretarial job but is given a job as a writer in The Ministry of Information – Film Division instead. Looking for a ‘woman’s angle’, the ministry treats Mrs Cole as a second class citizen until she begins to impress with her work. She is sent to meet a set of twins who are said to have stolen their uncle’s boat and gone to Dunkirk to rescue stranded solders with the idea that their story could be turned into an effective morale-boosting propaganda film. The truth isn’t quite how it seemed but the twins clearly had the right stuff that should be celebrated so Mrs Cole tells a white lie and the film gets the go-ahead. The film from there on is a wonderfully playful look at how The Ministry of Information worked during the war, the thinking behind much of the propaganda that was produced at the time and how effective it was. It also shows how women were slowly accepted into the work place and how they were also resented and feared. The film that they write and eventually film is fictional but it certainly has strong vibes of Morgan’s 1942 film Went the Day Well? Classic war films (and not so classic war films) are sent up subtly but with great respect and high regard, Bill Nighy plays an aging actor thrust back into the limelight alongside other troublesome actors and an American non-actor who is injected into the film in the hope it will inspire the US to join the war effort. It’s all very clever and funny and British. The problem is that it all takes place around a love triangle. Mrs Cole’s partner, the painter whose work is very much like that of Paul Nash, struggles with her independence and success and she starts to develop feelings for fellow writer and short-tempered drunk Tom Buckley, played by Sam Claflin. The film does take a lot of time to show 1940s London and remind the viewer what the Blitz was like but it is never quite enough. The film is at its best when exploring the war effort, the horror that fell from the sky and the resilience of the people on the ground. It is at its worst when the unnecessary romance is introduced. For a film that explores the clichés of film, it certainly has a fair few of its own. The big twist at the end has been heralded by some as the film’s saving grace but I totally disagree. I think the scenario could have been far more delicately handled but if I’m being honest the film would have been better if a good few characters removed from the very beginning. It leaves a confusing message and felt like they were making a film about a subject they didn’t really understand themselves. If the message was about life imitating art then I’m afraid they couldn’t have done a worse job. However, the direction is sublime and the performances are strong. There are enough tender moments for me to give the film three stars but seriously, that twist makes me want to give it just two.