Monday Night Film Series: Their Finest

Film Circuit favourite Lone Scherfig (An Education) returns with this rousing romantic comedy set in Britain’s wartime film industry. Featuring a cast teeming with some of the UK’s most charismatic comedic actors, including Bill Nighy (Pride, Notes on a Scandal) and Richard E. Grant (The Iron Lady, Gosford Park), Their Finest is about boosting morale during a period of national — and personal — crisis.

Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton, Gemma Bovary; Tamara Drewe) is a “slop” scriptwriter, charged with bringing a female perspective to war films produced by the British Ministry of Information’s Film Division. Catrin’s artist husband looks down on her job despite the fact that it’s paying their rent, but her effort and talent are valued by lead scenarist Tom Buckley (Sam Claflin, The Riot Club; United).

While on location in Devon, Catrin begins to come into her own and earn the respect of her peers, especially when she becomes the only crewperson that Ambrose Hilliard (Nighy) — a past-his-prime, yet nonetheless pompous actor — will talk to and take direc­tion from.

Based on the novel Their Finest Hour and a Half by Lissa Evans, the film pops with witty banter and flows with lovely period detail. The characters are uniformly textured and the performances nuanced. Nighy is perfectly cast in his endearingly withering role, and Jeremy Irons turns up for a welcome cameo. However, Arterton ultimately steals the show, bringing subtlety, intelligence, and a range of beauti­fully gauged emotions to Catrin, whose path to self-renewal is an inspiring example of a talented woman forging her place in the world.

Their Finest| Monday Night Film Series | Tilley Hall, Room 102, UNB Campus | September 18, 2017 – 7:30pm | See full schedule