THEIR FINEST
UK, 2016, 117 minutes, Colour.
Gemma Atherton, Sam Claflin, Bill Nigh, Jack Huston, Paul Ritter, Rachel Sterling, Richard E. Grant, Henry Goodman, Jake Lacey, Eddie Marsan, Jeremy Irons, Lily Knight, Francesca Knight.
Directed by Lone Scherfig.
This is the kind of British entertainment that suggests itself for a collection of The Best of Britain.
While it has been made in the present, and some of the dialogue is more 21st-century than the dialogue that appeared in the films of 1940 to 1941, in fact, this is a film about films and filmmaking in that particular war period.
It is very British in tone, characters, situations, some underplayed interactions, low-key humour – which does worry the Ministry for War and the Ministry for Information at the time because they want the film that they are making to make an impact on American audiences so that America will consider entering World War II and not just think that Britain has caved in after the Battle of Britain. The ending that was originally intended for the film the Brits are making gets feedback from the American distributors – not enough oomph!
Which is probably how Australians will like Their Finest, especially older cinemagoers who would seem to be the intended audience.
The central character is a young woman from Wales, Catrin, a very good starring role for Gemma Arterton. Catrin has come to London from Wales with her artist husband, Jack Huston, who has been wounded in the Spanish Civil War and so has to serve as an air raid warden. She thinks she is going for a job as secretary but, as she presents herself, especially to a committee who are making propaganda films (with scenes of audiences laughing at the kind of British rah-rah film of the time), she makes a good impression and is hired as a screenwriter, first of all for little fillers which are morale boosters shown between the supporting feature and the main feature.
The Ministries are after stories which are authentic and optimistic. Catrin goes to investigate a Dunkirk story, twins, Rose and Lily, who take their alcoholic father’s boat, sail across to the French coast to help with the rescue of the British soldiers at Dunkirk. Well, it didn’t quite happen like that in fact, but the story seems to be too good to pass up and so Catrin, her co-writers, especially the sardonic Buckley (Sam Claflin) who thinks that Catrin can do the ‘soppy stuff’ (the dialogue for the women), begin to work on writing the screenplay.
The film is very interesting showing the writers, their whiteboard, the stickers with key characters and events, the spaces between, the way that they invent more material to flesh out the story, sometimes inventive, sometimes hackneyed, always with an eye on what the Ministries were expecting (they react at the story of a boat breaking down which would denigrate British shipbuilding), on the effect on the audience, on the box office and, when they are forced, to introduce an American character and try to work out how on earth he was a Dunkirk.
There are many scenes of the filming, on the Devon coast and later in the studio. Key to all of this is a self-important actor, played with his usual sardonic aplomb by Bill Nighy, who expects to be the hero, that finds that he is to be the alcoholic uncle Frank. Eventually, he is charmed by Catrin, and relies on her completely for his character, not wanting any dialogue except hers. He also has an agent, Eddie Marsan, who is killed in a raid and he has to deal with the agent’s sister, a haughty Helen McCrory?.
At times one can imagine the screenplay meetings about scenes for this film, especially in terms of Catrin and her husband, her breaking down the hostility of Buckley, and where this might lead. Actually, it does not lead in the directions that we might have been anticipating.
Scenes of the Blitz, the bombings, taking refuge in the Tube, lots of ordinary London people in the streets, the air raid wardens, the technical crew and the difficulties of making a film during wartime – and, ultimately, Catrin going to see the film with an ordinary audience who respond perfectly, laughs, fears, anticipation, tears, enthusiastic morale.
Interestingly, the film was directed by Lone Scherfig, a Danish director who has made a number of films in the UK including Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself and An Education.
1. The title? The British tone, the British spirit? The story and British history? World War II?
2. The director, the Scandinavian background? The strong British cast?
3. The 1940s, Britain and World War II, the Battle of Britain? The different Ministries? Action? The Blitz and deaths into the station? The wardens? The experience of Dunkirk the rescue? In the British psyche, churches quotation? The role of the movies for the public, propaganda and morale?
4. Recreation of London, and devastation, the streets, offices, the studios? The bombings, ruined buildings, refuge in the Tube? Devon, the locations for the filming, the sea? The feel of Britain at this period? The musical score?
5. Catrin’s story, from Wales, her life there, encountering Cole, their not being married but passing as married? Coming to London, his art and schools, exhibitions, his disability? Issues of money? His grim pictures? Catrin seeking a job, expecting to be a secretary, the skill in writing, the propaganda pieces, just changing dialogue with the same action, her skill at collaboration, her talent?
6. The introduction to the Ministries, the representatives, issues of propaganda, morale boosting for the war, the scenes of audiences watching films which were very British, the audience laughing? The wily producer, his continental background, investments? Wanting stories of authenticity and hope?
7. The experience of Dunkirk, Rose and Lily and their story, the media? Catrin going to visit them, listening to the story, taking their father’s boat, its breaking down, their not getting across to France, but helping those on the way back? Because of the media, not wanting to contradict the story? Catrin and her decision to use the story, the others discovering that it was not true, the reactions? The decision to continue, the Ministries, the producer? Seeing the characters in the film, Rose and Lily, strong characters, the boat, their father turned into Uncle Frank, the young hero rescued, and the tangling of the propeller and its release?
8. Ambrose, his reputation, as a film detective, his miming the scenes for people? Acting, his lines, Catrin correcting him, his haughty reaction? In himself, pompous, his age, not getting offers for films, the discussions with his agent, his agent killed in the Blitz, his going to the morgue and identifying him, the encounter with his sister, her strong stances, keeping the job, the meals. the outings, the restaurant and the menu? Bond?
9. Ambrose, Uncle Frank, upset, but his acting, milking the lines? Catrin talking with him, his appreciating her affirmation, the bond, his gradual dependence on her?
10. The film showing how writers worked, creating screenplay, the processes? Catrin and Buckley, his sardonic personality, the cowriter and his looking after his mother?
11. Working together, the board, stickers, the outline of the plot, filling in the characters, filling in the detail? Creating the dialogue, pruning the dialogue? The reactions of the Ministries? Their expectations, propaganda, industry (and no boat breaking down)? The issue of American entry into World War II, their being persuaded that Britain had not been conquered?
12. Writing in an American character, his presence, cheerfulness, his inability to act, Catrin helping, persuading Ambrose to coach him, the various scenes of rehearsal, Ambrose rising to the occasion? The American, with Johnny the hero, his awkwardness?
13. The plot, the various changes, Uncle Frank being wounded, Johnny being wounded, the discussion of who would release the propeller? Rose and her success? The filming in Devon? The filming in the studio, the tank, action?
14. Catrin, going back from Devon, discovering Cole with the girl, her walking out? The attitude towards Buckley, his personality, mellowing, their working together? Her return, the possibilities? In the studio, the accident and his death?
15. Catrin writing the ending, fixing the film, her flat being bombed, not being killed? her sadness, Ambrose and his support?
16. Her seeming inability to work, her grief, at home? The decision to go to see the film, sitting with the audience, spontaneous responses, the comments, her sharing the joy
and the morale boosting?
17. Her achievement, symbolising the war effort in Britain?
