#2 - The Lady

In the 1980s one woman stole the global political headlines from any other woman: Margaret Thatcher. Despite being a British resident and hugely influential political leader herself, Aung San Suu Kyi has never been able to compete with the might of Thatcher in prominence. Perhaps, then, it is fitting that a biopic of Suu Kyi should be released just weeks before a higher profile one of Thatcher.

Suu Kyi's story has been documented in the press, but as is made clear in this film, probably not as much as it should have been. Born in Burma, the daughter of Aung San, the man who negotiated Burma's independence but was assassinated by rivals in 1947. Suu Kyi (Michelle Yeoh) went to Oxford as a student where she met her husband, Michael Aris (David Thewlis), and became a working mother to two sons, Alex (Jonathan Woodhouse) and Kim (Jonathan Raggett). In 1988, Suu Kyi returned to Burma to look after her ailing mother where followers of her father asked her to lead them in their fight for democracy. The film documents her decision to lead this group, and the response of the authorities in Burma - imprisoning her in her own house to prevent her speaking out.

It's a stunning story and Luc Besson does well in making us realise the enormity of the upheaval in Suu Kyi's life when she travels to Burma, by showing us her life as a 'normal' wife in England first. The filming is visually striking with shots used to good effect to highlight the difference in the world of England and Burma. But something is missing.

For a story packed with drama, passion and frightening politics, it only feels dramatic, passionate and frightening at a couple of moments in its 132 minute running time. When people are taken away silently from the back of Suu Kyi's peace protests; when the heroine of the piece squares up to face her armed rivals at close range; when the house arrest first takes place: these moments all deliver with some poignancy and horror at the realisation in our Western minds that things aren't all as rosy as we'd like to believe. While Besson has obviously gone for low-key as a theme throughout, this doesn't make for a good drama.

Aris (David Thewlis) and Suu Kyi (Michelle Yeoh) 

contemplate. A lot.

Low-key can work with performances that move the audience. But Yeoh and Thewlis in the central roles are disappointing. Thewlis seems to treat the role as an exercise in caricature of English professor: the bumbling, old buffoon. Not cool. Yeoh on the other hand delivers her lines with understatement and quiet sincerity, but never quite convinces. The transformation from English wife and mother to national figurehead smells as baity for awards attention as Meryl Streep's Thatcher or Helen Mirren's Queen Elizabeth II previously, and she must have been thrilled to get the role of a lifetime like this. But Yeoh fails to give the part the emotional punch that it could and should have delivered. Something in her eyes says she never quite believes in herself and it radiates throughout the whole film. Perhaps she wasn't given the time to get it right, as this picture seems to have been released in something of a rush, at the end of Suu Kyi's house arrest, but frankly it's not enough of an excuse.

Rebecca Frayn's script and Besson's storytelling as director are possibly more at fault than the performances though. Episodic and, dare I say it, bland, no character is given emotional depth or much in the way of motivation. The 'bad guys' (and that's exactly how they're presented, with no attempt to understand the reasoning behind their behaviour) are close to being pantomime villains and the 'good guys' are shown as completely faultless in every way.

The film is saved from being a complete flop by the fact that the story is so incredible. Momentous, powerful and extraordinary, even a filmmaker's ineptitude can't take away from the fact that Aung San Suu Kyi is an exceptional person, with an exceptional story. The biggest shame is that if this film had been better, it could have resolved the very problem that it is trying to highlight - the ignorance of the Western world to the plight of the people in some 'forgotten' countries. As it stands, I imagine more people will be asking if 'The Lady' is that film with Meryl being Maggie in.

Lowdown: A less than incredible biopic telling an incredible story about an incredible woman. Disappointingly flat, but worth a watch for the history lesson alone.


Score: 5/10