Their Finest - Wonderfully Funny, Charming and Romantic British Film

Certificate – 12A

Director – Lone Scherfig

Starring – Gemma Arterton; Sam Claflin; Bill Nighy; Jack Huston; Paul Ritter; Racheal Stirling & Richard E. Grant.

Running Time – 117 minutes (1 hour 5 minutes)

★★★✩✩

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I heard about Their Finest during the London Film Festival back in October and due to Southern Rail strikes I was unable to see. However, as a fan of British rom-com, this is an utterly charming British film.

1940, London, the Blitz; with the country’s morale at stake, Catrin (Arterton), an untried screenwriter, and a makeshift cast and crew, work under fire to make a film to lift the nation’s spirits – and inspire America to join the war about the evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk, France.

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The reason why this film is so charming is because of the fact it’s about World War II and highlighting a topic ever really been talked about and that is the propaganda during the war.

Then you have a smart director like Scherfig making it feel like the 1940s with the way it’s shot and using similar colours to British war feature films.

Another reason is because of the brilliant cast, Gemma Arterton is fabulous as the lead as you root for her from the beginning and you feel emotionally connected to her character. Catrin is a strong female given the time period; she holds her own against her husband Ellis (Huston) and Tom Buckley (Claflin).

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The only downside is her Welsh accent that seems to be a light all over the place, but it’s easy to let that go because of her chemistry with the whole cast – mainly Claflin.

The banter between the two characters when they talk about important issues, who the hero of the film should be the man or woman, and it brings a smile to the face.

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Claflin is the MVP and steals the whole film and all I wanted to do is see more from his character and you can see how talented he is and bloody hell Claflin is going to have a wonderful career. Maybe a future James Bond?

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Meanwhile, Nighly is great and is just (like all his roles nowadays) playing himself and brings a lot of the comedy. You know he based his performance and character of Ambrose Hillard on someone he knows.

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I’ll highly recommend seeing this film before Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk as it’ll give you a brief historical background and why Nolan want’s to tell this story and why it’s so important to everyone in Britain.

Verdict

A wonderfully charming, funny and romantic little British film with brilliant performances from Arterton, Nighly and of course Claflin.