Their Finest
by Gaby Chiappe (screenplay) and Lissa Evans (based on the novel "Their Finest Hour and a Half" by)
BBC Films
Their Finest is a British movie that had limited release in the USA. If, like me, you missed it in theaters, you can see it now on iTunes. This movie is slow and matter-of-fact but it snuck up on me and had me bawling my eyes out by the end. It’s billed as a romantic comedy, but due to a plot development near the end and a significant amount of tragedy it’s better described as a drama. I’m going to try to avoid spoilers, but here’s one I know none of you will mind:
There are two dogs in the movie, and they both end up fine. One of them ends up adopted by a strict but fond Helen McCory. We should all be so lucky.
Their Finest is a movie about a woman who makes a movie. Catrin, played by Gemma Arterton, gets a job helping to write a propaganda film (The Nancy Starling) in London during the Blitz. She’s supposed to provide the women’s touch on a film that, by order of the government, is to broadcast a sense of “authenticity and optimism.” Her co-worker, Buckley, is cynical and sexist but also very good at making a coherent story out of almost anything.
Buckley is played by Sam Claflin. Sam is one of the prettiest men ever to live, and as an actor he has perfected the art of wordlessly broadcasting intense and unrequited longing. It’s a relief that he spends the movie under an unfortunate, though period appropriate, mustache, as otherwise I would have spent the entire movie staring at him in a trance. He’s sardonic and bitter and funny and horrible and has fantastic chemistry with Gemma Atherton.
Gemma plays Catrin, our heroine, and she is simply perfect. Whether she’s standing perfectly still or walking and talking very quickly across a set, she simultaneously broadcasts vulnerability and steeliness. In keeping with all opposites-attract type romances, Catrin and Buckley constantly look like they can’t decide whether to strangle one another or just start ripping off each other’s clothes in the middle of the office.
Back to the plot: Catrin meets middle-aged twin sisters, Rose and Lily, who took part in the evacuation of British forces from Dunkirk. They stole their drunken father’s boat, but never made it to Dunkirk because the engine gave out. They got a tow home from a bigger ship and took some of the soldiers from that (overcrowded) ship. One had a dog in his kit bag, and another, who was French, tried to kiss Lily.
Catrin brings this story, minus a few details, to the movie people, who are thrilled. “It has authenticity, optimism, AND A DOG!” one of them crows. Soon she and Buckley are writing non-stop as the Rose and Lily of The Nancy Starling become pretty young women, their abusive drunk father becomes a funny drunk uncle, a fictional love triangle forms around the fictional Rose, and the dog has a stirring action scene.
There’s just so much to unpack in this movie, which is quiet and slow (at about two hours, it felt like more) and restrained in the most British way but which tackles sexism, the war, grief, friendship between women, the creative process, the art and business of making movies, and some very nice hats. Helen McCrory does what she always does, namely takes a small role and simply walks away with the movie entirely. Bill Nighy promises Catrin that “Between you and I, we’ll have them weeping in the aisles” and then delivers on that promise. The whole cast has a chemistry which manages to progress from mass antagonism to a sense of comfortable familiarity. The actors who play actors combine certain narcissism with real warmth. When Bill Nighy sings a song with the line, “Will ye go lassie, go/and we’ll all go together,” to the cast, they feel like a real family, truly at ease with one another, and truly comforted during dangerous times by each other’s company.
Throughout is presence of war. Although this film is very funny in a deadpan way, I was surprised to see how many people have described it as a romantic comedy. It doesn’t have a romantic comedy ending, and anything funny transpires against a terrifying background. At one point Catrin has to literally step over corpses to get to her flat. “I’ll be alright after a cup of tea,” she tells her husband, only to be informed that the water main is out, a development that even the stoic Catrin cannot tolerate with equanimity. The making of The Nancy Starling is serious business that might affect the course of the war, and the war takes such a toll that at one point they fear that they’ve run out of enough people to finish it.
Towards the end of the movie, something happens that could make the viewer feel cheated. I felt shocked and sad, but not cheated, and here’s why:
- The movie takes the time to follow through the ramifications of the event.
- An arc has, for all intents and purposes, been resolved.
- The movie has been hinting all along that all kinds of unforeseen events can and do happen, whether they be the result of bombs, guns, or, in one character’s case, being hit by a tram while on leave. Death is sudden and arbitrary. This is a theme all throughout the movie so when it causes a sudden tonal and plot twist, it feel both shocking and inevitable.
This movie was marketed as a romantic comedy, and up to a point it has the structure of one – very attractive people, the unappreciative husband, the witty banter, the chemistry, opposites attracting, etc. However, one of the running themes of the movie is that the movie within the movie keeps having different agendas and themes tacked on to it. The Nancy Starling is an action movie and a war movie, it’s a love story, it has comedy and tragedy, it’s meant to inspire America to join the war, and it’s meant to motivate the British to keep fighting. That’s not even a complete list of all the jobs that the poor Nancy Starling is expected to do. Through the writing of this film, Catrin is insistent that the film is, at its core, the story of Lily and Rose.
Similarly, Their Finest is marketed as a romantic comedy, but at its core it’s not the story of one couple or another. It’s consistently Catrin’s story. This means that while many characters undergo significant arcs, Catrin’s arc is the only one that matters and…
The movie is also an ode to the women who kept Britain running during the war. They are paid less than men, they are resented and feared by men, and yet they are expected to manage the impossible. When Catrin finally goes to a screening of The Nancy Starling, she sits by an older woman who weeps copiously through the movie and explains that she’s seen it five times. “It’s our picture isn’t it?” she says, patting Catrin on the hand, “They’re our girls.”
I cried like a baby.
Their Finest is available for streaming/purchase at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google:Play, & iTunes.
I cried like a baby, too! When the twist came my friend and I grabbed each other in shock! We’d spent the entire movie with big smiles on our faces and then woah! But we ended up agreeing with your reasons not for being cheated. Horrible and sudden things happen in life and especially during war. It was a wonderful movie!
Oh I loved this film! I went in expecting the Blitz and came out blubbering, “It’s a story about being a writer!” You don’t see the writing process up on the big screen too often… if at all. Thank you for this review which I think really captures the scope of the story. The whole film is brimful with ideas and just so satisfying! Bill Nighy is gorgeous!
Oooh, this sounds great. I think I’ll wait to see it until after watching Dunkirk in the theater.
My husband and I watched this during our holiday break in May on a whim. I was crying like a baby by the end. So touching, and so very, very British.
Especially the moment at the end of the movie, where Bill Nighy goes to visit Catrin was a tearjerker.
P.s. you forgot to mention the very delectable Jack Huston 😉
I loved this movie! And the book! SO MUCH SQUEE.
I want to watch this movie so badly but I’m desperately waiting for my library copy on hold. I’m trying tho be good and not buy it, but I’ve always been about instant gratification.
OMG this sounds SO GOOD and I have never heard of it! That’s honestly the only drawback to no longer having cable. I rarely, if ever, see movie trailers and thus have no idea what’s out unless it’s a huge blockbuster that people are talking about everywhere online. Thank you for bringing this to my attention!
OMG I WANT TO SEE THIS NOW. Put it in my eyeballs!!!
Great review! It’s a gorgeous film and has so many wonderful moments. I think my favorite scene was a government meeting where Jeremy Irons recited the St. Crispin Day speech from Henry V, while the camera moved around catching the various expressions (shock, embarrassment, confusion) of his captive audience. Jeremy Irons’ massive emotional nose blow at the end of the speech was masterful.
Ooo! I’ve wanted to see this too. Thanks for the great review. I’ll be looking for it to view after RWA Nationals.q
I saw Bill Nighy and squeed. I won’t even read your review. Your SQUEE plus Nighy = autowatch! Thanks!
This looks wonderful! I just finished Mr. Churchill’s Secretary, so I am already picturing the time period in my mind. Love the cast!
This sounds right up my street. Off to hunt for it …
I missed this in theatres (it disappeared quickly) but am really anxious to see it. I loved the book, one of my top reads of 2017, so I hope they do it justice.
Thank you so much for this review-I hadn’t heard of this movie, but just watching the trailer had me laughing and crying. This looks wonderful! I adore Bill Nighy and Helen McCrory-I’m really looking forward to seeing this.
Carrie S – if you haven’t already ready it, you need to read Lissa Evans’ latest book “Crooked Heart” – it’s like Goodnight Mr Tom if Mr Tom was crooked and lived in the suburbs and Willie was precociously smart. Equally for more women taking advantage of war opportunities (mostly to get lots of sexy times) The Camomile Lawn is great – but neither this nor Crooked Heart are romances…
@Ruth – After seeing the movie, I looked up the book, but the blurb sounded so different. How do they compare?
(I LOVED the movie, especially Rachael Stirling.)
Add me to fans of the movie. I loved it. And it’s packed with fine British actors. I loved zJeremy Irons ploughing Shakespeare, but my favorite performance was Gemme Atherton’s coping with not only the horrors or war but everyday sexism.
Irony or intentional tie-in that this is hitting theaters right around the same time as the big-budget blockbuster “Dunkirk” (which sounds essentially like the modern reboot of the script written in this movie)?
I haven’t seen the film but coincidentally read the book recently. The book does a really nice job of balancing dry wit, irony, and humor with more serious moments. I laughed when I saw Sam Claflin played Buckley. Book Buckley isn’t nearly as handsome as Sam (he’s described as paunchy), is quite a bit older than Catrin, and indulges in some disgusting habits from time to time. There are also two major POV characters that enter into a relationship that aren’t in the movie adaptation (as far as I can tell from looking at the cast list). I do very much recommend the book, and I also liked Crooked Heart by the author.
This was in and out of my neighborhood theater so quickly that I didn’t have a chance to see it. It sounds wonderful. I also really enjoyed the author’s “Crooked Heart.”
THIS IS MY FAVORITE MOVIE OF 2017!!! (So far…) I spent the whole time thinking to myself, “Please kiss, pleeeaaaaase kiss…”
The ending wasn’t what I hoped, but the ending was right for the movie. I LOVED IT.
Just a quick thank you for reviewing this movie. I would never have heard of it otherwise, and there it was, on On Demand!
We adored it. What a hidden gem.
Loved this movie. Went to see it with a friend when it came out in the States, and a preview for the film Dunkirk brought the whole audience up to date with that episode of WWII and in the mood for the war aspects of Their Finest. Wonderful cast. LOVED Bill Nighy and Helen McCrory, but really everyone was fabulous. I’m definitely going to seek out the book and watch this one again.
So, you know, reading the review of Miss Miles (http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/miss-miles-mary-taylor/) gave me a whole new appreciation for whatshisname getting fridged in this movie. I mean, how often is it that a MAN gets to ennoble a WOMAN by his death?!
I really, really liked Their Finest, but—and this might be weird?—I regretted that Catrin and Phyl didn’t get together at the end, because they were both so very cool and (I thought) would’ve been a pretty good team.