One of the animating questions in a film about a war correspondent is “why?” Why do they do what they do? Why do they keep pushing, keep searching, keep exposing themselves to the suffering of war? It’s the primary question at the centre of the new biopic Lee, about the famed photographer Lee Miller, who captured some of the most memorable images of the Holocaust as a war correspondent for British Vogue during World War II. The question is posed by a young man (Josh O’Connor) interviewing a prickly Lee (Kate Winslet) about her life and work at her home in England in 1977, probing and provoking her in the hopes of extracting more profound answers than her usual caustic one-liners

This framing device encircles just one remarkable chapter of Lee Miller’s wild and colourful life. Lee and this writer discuss a roughly 10-year period surrounding the war, but Miller lived so much life before and after this era

Miller’s biography sounds nearly apocryphal. Born in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., she was a model for Vogue, a student of the artist Man Ray (and his muse), and a fashion photographer whose work often reflected her Surrealist sensibilities

Lee’s style is plain and matter-of-fact, and the film’s spare and often muted visual language (the cinematography is by Pawel Edelman) matches that mood. Taking a sip of her drink, the photographer starts her story in France in 1938, where she spent days lounging in the sun and having lunch with friends. The threat of war loomed in the air, with Hitler’s Third Reich gaining more influence, but Lee and her friends didn’t think their lives would change so soon. Back then, Solange (Marion Cotillard), Nusch (Noémie Merlant) and Roland (Alexander Skarsgard) reserved their care for each other

That sentiment changes when the war comes closer to home. Lee returns to London with Roland, whom she has taken as a lover in France. Their relationship is fuelled, in equal parts, by lust and tenderness. As the war revs up, Lee itches to fight. Liz Hannah (The Post), John Collee (Master and Commander) and Marion Hume’s screenplay move efficiently through the beats of Lee’s life during these years. The sun-kissed moments in France slip nicely into the bleakness of her days in England

The film gets going when Lee starts taking photographs for Vogue. Her editor Audrey (an ace Andrea Riseborough) commissions her to capture the war on the home front, but Lee yearns to be in the field. She eventually gets to the battleground, using independent methods to become an accredited U.S. journalist. She heads off to Europe alone, but once embedded with the troops, she meets David Scherman (Andy Samberg), a LIFE photographer who becomes a friend

Samberg is a revelation, delivering a terrifically subtle but incredibly moving performance. The powerful and daring Lee, a force of nature, has her own fears and vulnerabilities, and she finds comfort in David, a rare man who feels safe enough to trust. During the liberation of France in 1944, she hears of missing people, and they drive deep into Germany at the very end of the war to uncover the ugly reality of the Holocaust, trusty David by her side as she relentlessly pushes forward in search of the truth

Lee is anchored by a stunning extended sequence as Lee and David witness and document the wreckage and human destruction of Hitler’s regime: Nazi suicide pacts, piles of corpses, concentration camps, prisoners, and victims. It slowly builds to the capturing of an iconic photo of Lee bathing in Hitler’s bathtub, one of the most famous images of her. In the context of the film, it all makes perfect sense. After seeing the human toll of Hitler’s murderous wake, it seems apt to humiliate or dominate Hitler in this specifically feminine way absurdly. In the film, Lee is both the model and author of this image, and creating it is cathartic, leading to an emotional breakdown for Davy, delicately conveyed by Samberg. The flinty Lee remains stoic, speaking through her work, drowning her emotions in booze and pills

Winslet is tremendous as always, embodying Lee’s gruff, no-nonsense persona, a hardened exterior underneath which a great wound still bleeds, finally comes pouring forth in a stunning confession, illuminating her every action that came before. This is a penetrating, revelatory biopic, and while it may take a familiar shape, the pioneering woman at the centre was anything but traditional