Their Finest

Hollywood has never been shy about depicting itself while the British film industry has rarely done so. That seam of humility runs through this politely delightful romantic Second World War comedy from director Lone Scherfig (An Education) adapted from Lissa Evans's 2009 novel Their Finest Hour and a Half. Gemma Arterton stars as Catrin, a Welsh woman who joins the Ministry of Information as a typist and is soon promoted to writing dialogue for female characters (what's called "slop" by Richard E Grant) in morale-boosting films. She's put to work with the dry-witted Buckley (Sam Claflin) on a project about a rescue attempt at the evacuation of Dunkirk and finds herself trying to protect the interests of the two women who inspired it while also beginning to question her own future happiness. Bill Nighy provides the laughs as the wonderfully pompous star of the film-within-a-film, hammy has-been Ambrose Hilliard. At the same time, Scherfig does justice to the issues of sacrifice and loss that haunted London in wartime.