Their Finest is a film adaptation of a novel, Their Finest Hour and a Half, written by Lissa Evans, which I have not read, set in 1940 London during the height of The Blitz. Catrin Cole, whom Byzantium’s Gemma Arteron plays, gets a job at the Ministry of Information, Film Division, to financially support staying in London with her wounded war artist husband. The job becomes a passion as she finds camaraderie and discovers that she is a great screenwriter. It is a kind of coming of age story about a woman discovering her voice and identity at a time of great chaos. Will she succeed at creating a movie to win the hearts and minds of her fellow countrymen and women?
I initially saw Their Finest over a year ago, and because I did not know much about the movie going in, I was disappointed. I thought that the movie would emphasize women in the war effort generally, not the movie industry. Then I was slightly annoyed at how the movie cynically created an everywoman who adhered to gender norms while tentatively stepping forward into roles that were more masculine whereas I was more interested in Rachel Stirling’s character, Phyl Moore, a woman who already found her voice and made her place in that world. Catrin was soft-spoken, feminine and married whereas Phyl is derided by one character as a spy, adopted masculine dress and was a lesbian. I do not mind following a seasoned protagonist who knows more about the world that I am entering. I do not need to be like the protagonist to relate to her, clueless and adjusting to an unfamiliar world through her eyes. It is safe feminism.
While I did not hate Their Finest’s love story, it felt lame that the movie felt it was required that the protagonist had to have a romance arc, and that arc had to reflect the direction of her personal journey. Somehow the writer found a deft way for Catrin to have her cake and eat it too—be a faithful wife then get a new love interest without cheating. I will not spoil how the story manages to do it.
Their Finest works because it embraces the Hey, Let’s Put on a Show trope which provides a narrative momentum. The characters constantly discuss what they are trying to accomplish with this movie and breaking down the elements of how they will use different aspects of the film to do it while simultaneously the movie that we are watching is doing it. We know that we are being emotionally manipulated because they are literally telling us, but it still works. By the end of the film, I too felt sentimental though I never shared a tear. It was impossible not to be swept away. Why?
Their Finest manages to establish patterns and rhythms in the way that the film depicts work and life for the characters, especially the protagonist and her foil, Ambrose Hilliard, whom the delightful Bill Nighy plays. Hilliard is Catrin’s opposite: a seasoned, well known film actor near the end of his career, desperate for work with high expectations getting used to working in a new world with women steering him. As each accepts the changes in their fortunes, for good or ill, their routine almost imperceptibly changes, but there are dramatic moments that usually occur elsewhere than the camera’s gaze, which create unexpected upheavals in the texture of their emotional and psychological stories. Because The Blitz is the backdrop, the film does show how it logistically affects them daily, but death is not inherent because of war, but an innate part of the precariousness of life. Just when you think that the story is predictable and expecting to see a character again, they suddenly disappear because they are dead, and we are denied any closure to that storyline. It is a devastating loss for the character, but we feel the loss because of the way that it disrupts our expectations for the story’s trajectory.
Their Finest acts as a kind of love story to classic filmmaking and enjoys showing the nitty-gritty details of how special effects were executed when technology was not as advanced. Even though the film is nakedly propaganda, there is a wistful sense that film should be more than a creative ATM. It elevates movie making and viewing to more than mere entertainment, but so life changing that it can win international wars.
Their Finest has an engaging ensemble cast so the entire weight of the movie does not rest on the protagonist’s shoulders. All the characters feel like three-dimensional people with full lives who could easily have a movie revolve around them. Henry Goodman as the Hungarian filmmaker seems desperate to make “a film that will make a difference” and feels as if he is most aware of the war. I have never seen Eddie Marsan play such a jovial character as Hilliard’s agent. Helen McCrory as the agent’s sister was a comedic surprise. Jake Lacy needs more credit. Lacy is typecast as the normal, American good guy within groups that he does not quite fit in television series such as Girls and movies such as Obvious Child. He is like the living, breathing antonym of Michael Shannon being typecast as bad guys. People mistakenly may think that Lacy and Shannon just play the same guy repeatedly, but they are playing incredibly different characters, and they are always giving distinct performances. In this film, he plays an American who is voluntarily fighting in the war with a brief diversion into acting. Why do I have a Pavolvian positive response whenever I see Richard E Grant regardless of the kind of character that he is playing?
You would be mistaken to conflate my issues with the protagonist and my feelings about Arterton. After seeing her in Byzantium, I know that she has more to offer than she is asked. I am just excited that she got a lead role even if the character seems designed to hit maximum levels of likeability. It is nice to see Sam Claflin depart from his good guy roles. He plays the protagonist’s prickly fellow writer. They butt heads so of course he ends up being a potential love interest.
Their Finest is another film in a long list of British films that takes what could be a controversial theme such as feminism then makes the topic approachable and relatable by humanizing the concept with an ensemble cast, mixing humor, drama and popular culture while being allied with and bolstering the establishment. It is so artfully embedded that it dissolves so even the most misogynist viewer cannot separate it from all the other, less controversial but enjoyable elements of the film. Like The Full Monty, Billy Elliot and Pride, this film quietly winds its way into our emotional centers and completely side steps our critical selves to create a community that is blissfully unified against a common enemy. If only real life was so harmonious, practical and beautiful. Their Finest gets better with repeat viewing and is currently available for streaming on HBO.
