Parents' Guide to Lee

Like Lee Miller the woman, her biopic is exactly what you want, while not at all what you expect. As a member of the Lost Generation of artists who flocked to France in the 1920s and '30s, Miller once said that she wasn't a feminist but a surrealist—and, like one of Picasso's works—we don't see her life in full in Lee, but rather chunks of her in her most pivotal moments. While Winslet wears aging makeup to create wrinkly skin when she plays Miller at 77, there's no attempt to age her down to 31 for the movie's early scenes. In fact, she rarely wears makeup. And when Miller chooses to take off her top (which is often), it's not portrayed as particularly sexy or sensual—it's just what breasts look like. This isn't Lee "the muse and lover of Man Ray" or Lee "the cover model" or any other male fantasy of her. It's Lee, the woman that she was. And while the interview/flashback structure might then seem a little too straightforward for such a bold innovator, just wait for it. The surrealist isn't done.

The images of what Miller observed and photographed on the front line in France during World War II and what she saw during the liberation of the Dachau Concentration Camp are grisly and hard to see (Miller's actual photographs are woven into the film and flashed through the credits). She's a hero who demonstrates the importance of journalism and the courage it can take to find and reveal the truth. And, through scenes of Miller snapping shots of female soldiers and victims—and female filmmakers telling Miller's story—viewers will hopefully understand the importance of seeing a woman's story told through a woman's perspective.