One of the great injustices of the 2025 Oscars, and there were many, was the snub of Kate Winslet‘s superb performance in Lee, a film that in its golden days would have been identified as a film that was an Oscar movie.

Doubtful? Let’s go through the traditional boxes: biography, award-winning actress, sensitive theme about the Second World War… Oscar is written all over it, but no. What a shame! That’s why I’m taking this opportunity to recommend it when it comes to some platforms (I watched it in the United States).

Lee portrays the life of Elizabeth ‘Lee’ Miller, a photographer and war correspondent for Vogue magazine during the Second World War. A former model and close friend of some of the leading intellectuals of the time, Lee was one of the first people to witness and publicize the existence of concentration camps, capturing iconic images of the conflict with her lens, including her famous photograph of herself in Hitler’s bathtub.

The project began when cinematographer Ellen Kuras came across a book about Lee Miller in a New York bookstore. She noticed physical similarities between Lee and actress Kate Winslet, with whom she had worked in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in 2004. Ellens sent a copy of the book to the actress, who, years later, expressed interest in developing a film about the photographer, inviting Ellen to make her directorial debut.

The book that served as the basis for the screenplay, The Lives of Lee Miller, was written and published by the photographer’s son, Antony Penrose (sorry for the spoilers), played on screen by Josh O’Connor. The author provided access to his mother’s personal archives, including diaries and unpublished works.

The film is not told linearly: we begin with Lee in the present, more withdrawn and still traumatized by the past, talking to Antony and remembering some passages of her (fascinating) life. With appearances by actors such as Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Andrea Riseborough, and Alexander Skarsgård, it is impossible not to be enchanted by the film.

Born in 1907, in Poughkeepsie, New York, Lee Miller began her career as a model, but it was photography that would become her true passion and her lasting contribution to the world.

At the age of 19, Miller moved to Paris, where she began working as a model for some of the most renowned photographers of the time, including the iconic Man Ray. During this time, she also became his lover and collaborator, experimenting and exploring new photographic techniques, such as solarization, which became a trademark of her work. Miller’s transition from model to photographer was both natural and impressive, given her creative ability and her innate curiosity for the world around her.

With the outbreak of World War II, Lee Miller found her true calling as a war correspondent and photographer for Vogue magazine. She became one of the first women to cover the horrors of the conflict, being present at some of the most devastating scenes of the war. As a war photographer, Miller not only documented the events but also captured the emotional intensity and brutality of the conflict, going far beyond the traditional role of war photographers at the time.

One of her most iconic shots was the famous image of herself in Hitler’s bathtub after the fall of Berlin. The photo, which shows Miller relaxing in an almost surreal way in a bathtub inside what was Hitler’s residence, is a symbolic representation of the impact she had on the war and the unique way in which she approached it. Lee Miller did not limit herself to documenting the war; she also used her art to challenge the expectations of her time about the role of women, showing remarkable courage and determination in a predominantly male environment. She was one of the pioneers in showing the horrors of war in a visceral, human, and, at the same time, poetic way.

After the war, Miller’s life went through ups and downs, and today it is strongly suspected that she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). She withdrew from war photography and turned to drinking. She died at the age of 70, in 1977, but her work continues to be celebrated and studied for its courage, innovation, and the way it challenged the conventions of the time. Her legacy as a war photographer, artist,t and woman ahead of her time is unforgettable.

More than just physically resembling Lee, the role features a mature Kate Winslet who captures the complex nuances of a woman with childhood traumas (she was raped at the age of 7) and whose heart was hardened by the horrors she witnessed. It is a shame that she is out of the running for an Oscar. If it weren’t for the support of Fernanda Torres, I would give her the statuette.

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