FILM OF THE WEEK
Their Finest
Cert 12A; Now showing IN A great week for enjoyable, easy viewing Their Finest is well, one of the finest. It’s about a young woman in London, 1940, the height of the Blitz, employed to write films that would galvanise the spirits of the British cinema-going public, a plotline and setting that might have strayed into jingoism. But this adaptation (by Gaby Chiappe) of Lissa Evans’s novel is bang on tone. Director Lone Scherfig gives more An Education than One Day to deliver something engaging, enjoyable and really well-played.
Catrin (Gemma Arterton) almost accidentally gets a job writing films whose official brief is to be “authenticity informed by optimism”. It’s a brief that hardnosed writer Buckley (Sam Claflin) believes impossible and he is initially dismissive of the inexperienced Catrin’s ability, assigning her to write what was referred to as “slop”, women’s dialogue. But Catrin proves her worth, coming up with a storyline based, loosely, on a real girl power story. When the brief for the film grows to include appealing to women and inspiring the US public to get behind the war effort, Catrin becomes indispensable. But whilst she earns grudging respect in work, at home her artist husband (Jack Huston) resents her superior income. On set outside London there is liberation from both her husband and from the constant threat of bombing and our heroine proves a dab hand at managing the difficult male lead (Bill Nighy) and incorporating the US appeal (Jack Lacy).
There is lots going on but it works very well. Nighy’s schtick is more nuanced than usual and Arterton and Claflin are great, individually and together. Sweet, cameo-laden and really enjoyable.