Keeping home fires burning with class
THEIR FINEST (12A, 117 mins)
IT’S tally ho and chocks away to a period when upper lips were stiff and women served the bomb-ravaged nation on the home front.
Based on Lissa Evans’ novel Their Finest Hour And A Half, Lone Scherfig’s wartime comedy drafts frothy drama and heart-tugging romance into active service.
Bill Nighy delivers a masterclass in deadpan delivery and arched eyebrows as a one-time screen idol, whose glory days are far behind him.
Gemma Arterton is a delightful foil, banging a drum for gender equality in the face of chauvinist condescension, with sterling support from the likes of Richard E Grant, Helen McCrory, Eddie Marsan and Jeremy Irons.
Gaby Chiappe’s script maintains a brisk pace and light tone despite the grim historical backdrop, celebrating the power of cinema to keep morale up during World War II.
Their Finest only allows reality to bite in closing frames when the devastation of the Blitz takes its toll on the key figures.
When her painter husband Ellis (Jack Huston) fails to sell his canvasses, Catrin Cole (Arterton) takes a job as a secretary at the Ministry of Information, which produces wartime propaganda.
Roger Swain (Grant), who heads the film division, entreats scriptwriters Tom Buckley (Sam Claflin) and Raymond Parfitt (Paul Ritter) to unearth a true story of wartime heroism that can be immortalised on celluloid.
The rescue of wounded British soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk by twin sisters using their father’s boat is just the ticket. Catrin is asked to pen the female characters’ dialogue and starts work alongside Tom and Raymond.
A pompous cabinet minister (Irons) insists the script should include an American character to help persuade the USA to join the Allied cause.
Thus, handsome airman Carl Lundbeck (Jake Lacy) is cast alongside ageing ham Ambrose Hilliard (Nighy) on a shoot that sparks forbidden romance between Catrin and Tom.
Their Finest is a charming confection with a full conscription of reliable cliches. Arterton and Claflin kindle a spiky onscreen romance, period detail is solid and director Scherfig makes light work of the two-hour running time. An exceedingly fine affair.