Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be. The spectre of the “well-made British film” – well-cast, well-acted and well-dressed, yet so emotionally hemmed in as to pack all the wallop of a damp handkerchief – hangs heavy over Their Finest (★★★, cert 12A, 115 mins). Directed by Lone Scherfig, it takes its inspiration from Lissa Evans’s bestselling Second World War book. It’s certainly well cast and well produced, lining up its national treasures like mantelpiece tchotchkes.
The film maps the progress of screenwriter Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton) within the wartime propaganda industry. 21st-century career women will recognise elements of Catrin’s predicament: territorial male colleagues, limited pay, a wider institutional sexism.
