The story of pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi and the academic and writer Michael Aris; a true story of love set against political turmoil.
A wasted opportunity.
One of those agonisingly well-intentioned films whose heart is in the right place, but everything else is wrong.
One leaves The Lady feeling that this is a story where there is so much more to be told. As events move on apace for Suu Kyi and her beloved Burma, this is one instance when cinema simply can't beat reality for genuine drama.
It’s a well-intentioned film, to be sure, just not a very good one.
A real struggle.
Portraits require shade not just for authenticity but for interest's sake. This hagiography wants only to blind us – insistently, boringly – with a sanctified light.
Flawed but moving.
The Lady attempts to dramatise both political and familial heartache and fails in both cases: as a result, it comes off as phoney as the cod-oriental plinky-plonking on its soundtrack.
Michelle Yeoh and David Thewlis are impressive.
Besson and Frayn have turned the struggles of a Nobel Prize Winner into a romantic tragedy of soulmates divided, but even on that level The Lady is too measured to bother the tear ducts.
Despite a full-blooded Michelle Yeoh, Besson’s conventional – and flawed – telling never elevates its subject to the heights she deserves.
To set free a captive heart
Yeoh's challenge in playing 'hero' Suu Kyi
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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