Their Finest
Their Finest is a 2016 British war comedy-drama film, directed by Lone Scherfig, written by Gaby Chiappe, and based on the 2009 novel Their Finest Hour and a Half by Lissa Evans. The film stars Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin, Bill Nighy, Jack Huston, Jake Lacy, Richard E. Grant, Henry Goodman, Rachael Stirling, Eddie Marsan, Helen McCrory, and Claudia Jessie. It tells the story of a British Ministry of Information film team making a morale-boosting film about the Dunkirk evacuation during the Battle of Britain and the London Blitz.
Their Finest
Their Finest Hour and a Half
by Lissa Evans
Sebastian Blenkov
- Wales Screen
- Pinewood Pictures
- BBC Films
- Ingenious Media
- HanWay Films
- Ripken Productions
- Film i Väst
- Filmgate Films
- Wildgaze Films
- Number 9 Films
- Cutting Edge Group
- 10 September 2016 (TIFF)
- 21 April 2017 (United Kingdom)
117 minutes[1]
United Kingdom
English
Principal photography began in early September 2015 in London. Their finest was screened at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival, and was released in the UK on 21 April 2017 by Lionsgate.[1]
The film is set during the time after Dunkirk, when the Battle of Britain is turning into the Blitz. The British government is desperately seeking to shore up the morale of the general population, and is pursuing a long strategy of getting the US to join the war and defeat Hitler. The Ministry of Information used artistic talent to pursue these ends.
Release[edit]
In May 2015, Lionsgate acquired UK distribution rights to the film.[10] The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 10 September 2016.[11][12] Shortly after, EuropaCorp acquired the distribution rights to the film in the United States and France.[13] STX Entertainment will distribute the film for EuropaCorp.[14]
On 13 October 2016, Their Finest celebrated its European premiere at the BFI London Film Festival.[15][16] The film was scheduled to be released in the United States on 24 March 2017[17] but was pushed back to 7 April 2017.[18] It was released in the United Kingdom on 21 April 2017.[1]
Critical response[edit]
On the review-aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 90%, based on 174 reviews, with an average rating of 7.20/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Carried along by a winning performance from Gemma Arterton, Their Finest smoothly combines comedy and wartime drama to crowd-pleasing effect."[19] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 76 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[20]
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called the character of Hilliard "a colossally proportioned scene-stealer" and wrote that "Arterton brings a rather beautiful kind of restraint to her role".[21] Wendy Ide of The Observer praised the "rattling, screwball rhythm" of Catrin and Tom's "banter" but noted that some of the plot could have been "more persuasively developed" and that without the twist of Tom's death the film "could have torpedoed itself with predictability". She praised that twist as the film's "boldest decision... [which robs] the audience of an outcome we are expecting in a way that nobody sees coming", as well as calling the "film-within-a-film structure ... a neat device".[22]
Geoffrey Macnab of the Independent wrote that "Some of the in-jokes begin to grate" but called Arterton's performance "well-judged and engaging" and noted the "scene-stealing antics" of Nighy, Lacy and Irons, particularly lauding Hilliard's shift from "comic buffoon ... [to] depth and pathos".[23] Robbie Collin of the Telegraph called it a "handsome, rousing, rigorous entertainment you can’t help but play along with" and "Sparklingly adapted", with "bristly chemistry" between the two leads. He noted Scherfig's direction, with the "broad and rosy spoof" of the film-within-a-film and the gender inequalities of the period left "to squirm away unhindered in the subtext" rather than countered with anachronistic "spiky comebacks".[24]