I truly am a sucker for a good period drama, especially one taking place during the Second World War, one of the most fascinating periods in modern history. Of the year’s best films is undeniably Dunkirk, a frank and beautifully poetic war epic about one of the most extraordinarily fascinating moments of the war. Another film this year looks at the Dunkirk evacuations and approaches it from a completely different angle. That film is Their Finest, an endearing and entertaining period comedy that features wonderful performances and a solid story driven by the historical resonance of the story, while still approaching the subject matter in a way that is wonderfully riveting.

Their Finest is about Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton), a talented young Welsh woman who longs to be a screenwriter. Moving to London with her injured husband, Ellis (Jack Huston), Catrin finds her way into the film industry there, initially starting work on short propaganda films, but eventually being given the chance to have an apparently true story about two sisters who helped in the Dunkirk evacuations made into a feature-length film. Along the way, Catrin encounters a number of difficulties, mostly coming from her co-writer Tom Buckley (Sam Claflin) and the various other individuals involved in this film, all of which are trying to put all these difficulties and differences aside to make a film that will boost the morale of the British people.

Personally, I am not entirely enthusiastic about films that purport war as being something to be celebrated, or rather something that should be viewed from only one side. There is something about the jingoistic sensibilities of many war films that take the approach that one nation or side should be celebrated for their unrelenting bravery and utter commitment to the war, while the other nation or side is reviled as being completely evil and worth the disdain of upstanding individuals. Their Finest is an odd film as it is a film that criticizes this kind of jingoistic propaganda, while still contributing to it by being such a film. This is an overly-British film about British dignity and bravery during the war, and while it may not show the effects of the war on a grand scale, and rather showed one side, it still maintains the position that war is something that needs to be justified through morale-boosting films. It is in this regard that Their Finest is a highly-flawed film. There is just something about it that just comes off as overly sentimental and often very biased towards one side. However, I can put these quarrels with the film’s central themes aside in defense of the film as being an adorable and endearing film, and one that has far more to say about its subject than simply reinforcing war-time propaganda ideals.

Lone Scherfig has made a number of films, all of them varying in theme and tone. Her most remarkable film is An Education, a wonderful period comedy that looks at the life of a baby-boomer in the Swinging Sixties in London. Their Finest shares many common themes with An Education and some of Scherfig’s other films, most of all being a very powerful statement of femininity. Catrin Cole is not a typical Hollywood figure – she is a creative and assured woman who has her goals and will do anything to achieve them and rise to the place where she can be as successful as she wants to be. This isn’t to say that this film necessarily agrees with her, as there are continuous efforts by the characters to shoot down her ideas as being “twee” and quaint, and not all that serious simply because they are coming from a woman. Yet the film primarily shows how Catrin deals with this kind of discrimination, and her resilience in the face of both professional and personal adversity makes her a unique and endearing feminist figure. She may not be the most progressive character, and the film shows that the little bit of equality she earns in the workplace isn’t without consequence, but for a subgenre of film (war movies) where female characters are usually relegated to being supportive wives of soldiers, secretaries or similarly backgrounded characters, it was wonderful to see a female protagonist in a film that usually uses the male perspective as the guiding factor.

The performances in Their Finest are absolutely tremendous. Gemma Arterton is a fantastically talented actress, and her continuous ascent to stardom, navigating through many prestigious films across various genres, is making her a household name. Their Finest is (excuse me) one of her finest moments. Catrin Cole is a complex, deeply profound figure who is fully-realized and filled with complicated development. Arterton does spectacularly well in creating a character that is endearing but also solid and well-constructed as a feminist figure. I find Arterton to be one of the most shining young talents working today, and her career is going to really ascend if she continues to give strong performances like this. The same can be said for Sam Claflin, who plays a very different role from what we normally see him do, and he succeeds tremendously.

Their Finest also possesses a very strong supporting cast of veteran actors – Richard E. Grant has a small but vital role as a film executive, and he is wonderful. Eddie Marsan is also great in his small role as a Polish talent agent, and Helen McCrory is hilarious as his sister who is the complete polar opposite of him. Jeremy Irons has a surprising but welcome cameo as the Secretary of War, and the supporting cast as a whole is solid. However, there is one person who just stands out amongst all of them – Bill Nighy. There are some actors that just improve any film just by being in it, and Bill Nighy is one of them. He is a truly magnetic presence, and his role as Ambrose Hilliard, the fading actor is absolutely incredible. His eccentric performance, played with remarkable emotional gravitas and tremendous empathy, is one of Nighy’s most impressive performances, and he solidifies himself as one of the most fascinating actors working in cinema. He is also a very welcome presence in any film, and he is absolutely marvelous here, and his performance extends far beyond the typical comic relief.

Their Finest is a great film – simple in execution, but also motivating and endearing. It is funny, romantic and morale-boosting, and it overcomes its tricky subject matter by being a deeply heartfelt film, with great performances from a magnificent cast. It is a film that may fly under the radar, and while it isn’t groundbreaking, it is a film that has major merits and a wonderful sense of humor, which is always beneficial when tackling a subject as complicated and deeply difficult as the Second World War. A truly remarkable and special little film.