Saturday 12th October, Kino Teatr St Leonards
Our trip to the cinema was very successful – LEE is a very good film following photographer Lee Miller’s life during the 1930s and during her time as a war correspondent. The screenplay cleverly weaves her own narrative with the events she depicted in her powerful photographs, still regarded as important images of the war. After the screening there was a very interesting question and answer session with Antony Penrose, Lee Miller’s son, who wrote a biography of her mother after her death, having found her unknown stash of all her photos and equipment in the attic of Farleys House. A previous RAP tour trip visited the house where we had a guided tour of the fascinating home and saw an exhibition of stills from the film alongside Lee’s original photographs – both fascinating and moving.
LEE is a major feature film starring Kate Winslet as war journalist Lee Miller (1907-1977). The film focuses on Miller’s life as an American in Europe on the verge of WWII. Her modelling career was over and she’d found herself compelled to a life on the other side of the camera, taking pictures and enjoying debauched getaways. As the war begins, her need to feel useful in some way drives her to the frontline as she tries to capture the horrors for Vogue magazine. After the war Lee Miller lived near Lewes in a scenic home at “Farleys” shared with husband Roland Penrose, a well-known painter and mentor to artists.