Their Finest is directed by Lone Sherfig and is about a woman who is hired to write propaganda films for the Ministry of Information during World War 2.
The main idea of a woman working in a predominantly male field and showing that she is just as good, if not better than, her male coworkers during a time of heightened tensions between the sexes and countries is an interesting, and familiar one. It was explored to great effect earlier this year in Hidden Figures. And while I appreciated it here, as a whole it did not work as well as Hidden Figures.
There are three main differences between Their Finest and Hidden Figures: the quality of the film, the inspirational reach, and how true the film is.
While there are some aspects of Their Finest which are very good, overall I thought it was just ok. There is some cracking dialogue, most of which comes from Bill Nighy as an actor who finds it difficult to accept that he is ageing and not as popular as he used to be. Nighy's Ambrose Hilliard could easily carry a film of his own, but then there is the possibility that his expanded role would ruin the character. The production design is also wonderful. The film looks as though it is actually in the murky, war ravaged streets of 1940s London.
The first half of the film; when Gemma Arterton's Catrin Cole is starting working for the Ministry, meeting her fellow writers and writing the main film-within-a-film is easily the strongest part. After that I started to lose interest, especially after an underdeveloped romantic subplot (similar to Hidden Figures is introduced. Although we see more of Bill Nighy in this half, it is just not as interesting to watch. I started to get bored at points and would have preferred if it kept to an hour and a half (like the fake film and the title of the book this is based on).
The film does have commentary on the role women have both then and now. While this film is written and directed by women, the film industry is still not a 50/50 split when it comes to these creative roles. There are conversations about pay, credits and the way her writing is viewed. It is mostly in comparison to Catrin's co-writer (played by Sam Claflin). Due to the time of war that the country was in, there are not many discussions or implications of discrimination outside of those areas, apart from Catrin arguing heavily about the role that the twins will play in the film. She fights to have them be more than "the people that go to Dunkirk to save the troops" and have them be more heroic in the script.
Heroism is present in the fake film, Their Finest and Hidden Figures. The problem is that the female heroism comes off stronger in the fake film than in the rest of the film. And when compared to Hidden Figures it is severely lacking. Part of what is great about Hidden Figures is that I believe it may be able to inspire young girls to want to work in one of the scientific fields that are focused on in the film. This is because it is an accessible, inspirational well made film that almost anyone would be able to watch. However I don't believe that Their Finest will be as inspiring. This is because I don't think it will have as wide a reach, and it doesn't show fighting against opposition as well.
Moving away from the Hidden Figures comparison: there is a point towards the end of the film where something completely unexpected happens. I would have been more accepting of it if they had properly shown the destruction of the Blitz. Because it has not been well established, this moment feels out of place in the film, and abruptly ends one story arc.
In short: The first half shows a lot of promise, but wastes it in an uninteresting second half.
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