Character Relationship Map: Lee

Characters

• Elizabeth 'Lee' Miller (played by Kate Winslet) — protagonist

  Elizabeth 'Lee' Miller is the film’s central figure, a former fashion model who becomes a photographer and Vogue war correspondent. She documents the Blitz, combat in France, the liberation of Paris,...

• David E. Scherman (played by Andy Samberg) — protagonist

  David E. Scherman is a photojournalist assigned to work alongside Lee after the United States enters the war. He travels with her through France and Germany, photographs the frontline aftermath of Naz...

• Roland Penrose (played by Alexander Skarsgård) — supporting

  Roland Penrose is Lee’s lover and later husband. He meets her in France, moves with her to London, and returns from the war before marrying her in 1947. Their relationship continues through Lee’s diff...

• Solange D'Ayen (played by Marion Cotillard) — supporting

  Solange D'Ayen is Lee’s distraught friend, encountered during the liberation of Paris after surviving imprisonment. Her husband remains missing, and her condition reflects the personal devastation cau...

• Audrey Withers (played by Andrea Riseborough) — supporting

  Audrey Withers is the Vogue editor who explains why Lee’s concentration-camp photographs were not published after the war. She tells Lee that British censorship blocked them because officials feared t...

• Nusch Eluard (played by Noémie Merlant) — supporting

  Nusch Eluard is one of Lee’s friends in Paris. After the liberation, she reconnects with Lee alongside Paul and helps communicate the scale of the occupation’s human cost, including the thousands of p...

• Antony Penrose (played by Josh O'Connor) — supporting

  Antony Penrose is Lee’s son and the interviewer through whom her story is framed. He has only recently learned about her wartime experiences and imagines a conversation with her after her death, refle...

• Paul Eluard (played by Vincent Colombe) — supporting

  Paul Eluard is one of Lee’s friends whom she encounters again during the liberation of Paris. Together with Nusch, he informs Lee about the thousands of people who went missing during the German occup...

• French Woman with Rose (played by Ena Kurtalić) — cameo
• Blonde French Collaborator (played by Claire Lavernhe) — cameo

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Elizabeth 'Lee' Miller → French Woman with Rose (Professional Photographer And Subject) — The listed French woman is associated with the liberation-era photographs.

  During the Liberation of Paris, Lee photographs members of the French Resistance publicly shaming French women who collaborated with the Germans.

• Elizabeth 'Lee' Miller → Blonde French Collaborator (Professional Photographer And Subject) — The collaborator is among the women Lee photographs during the liberation.

  During the Liberation of Paris, Lee photographs members of the French Resistance publicly shaming French women who collaborated with the Germans.

• Roland Penrose → Antony Penrose (Family Father And Son) — Roland is Antony's father.

  The plot states that Lee and Roland marry and that their son Antony is born soon after.

• Elizabeth 'Lee' Miller → Antony Penrose (Family Mother And Son) — Their family relationship is examined through Antony's imagined interview with his deceased mother.

  Lee and Roland marry in 1947, and their son Antony is born soon after. Antony later reflects on his upbringing and the effects of Lee's trauma and alc...

• Elizabeth 'Lee' Miller → Audrey Withers (Professional Photographer And Editor) — Their professional relationship becomes strained when Lee learns her photographs were withheld.

  After the war, Audrey, the Vogue editor, explains to Lee that British censorship prevented publication of her concentration-camp photographs.

• Nusch Eluard → Paul Eluard (Romantic Couple) — They appear together when they share news with Lee.

  The plot describes Lee reconnecting with Nusch and Paul together and identifies them as the people who inform her about those missing during the occup...

• Elizabeth 'Lee' Miller → David E. Scherman (Professional War Correspondent Colleagues) — They work together at the front and record the aftermath of Nazi atrocities.

  After the United States enters the war, Lee is assigned as a war correspondent alongside photojournalist David Scherman. They travel through France an...

• Elizabeth 'Lee' Miller → Roland Penrose (Romantic Lover And Later Husband) — Their relationship begins in France and continues through the war and their postwar family life.

  Lee meets and falls in love with Roland in France. They later marry in 1947 and have a son.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Elizabeth 'Lee' Miller → Paul Eluard (Social Friend) — Paul reconnects with Lee and shares news about the human cost of occupation.

  During the Liberation of Paris, Lee reconnects with Paul and Nusch, who tell her about the thousands of people missing during the occupation.

• Elizabeth 'Lee' Miller → Nusch Eluard (Social Friend) — Nusch is among Lee's Paris friends who reconnect with her after liberation.

  During the Liberation of Paris, Lee reconnects with Nusch and Paul, who tell her about the thousands of people missing during the occupation.

• Elizabeth 'Lee' Miller → Solange D'Ayen (Social Friend) — Lee encounters and responds with concern to her friend's suffering.

  During the Liberation of Paris, Lee finds her distraught friend Solange, who has survived imprisonment and whose husband is still missing.

Story Analysis

A wartime photographer bears witness to conflict and atrocity, while a later imagined interview reveals the personal cost of her experiences and the legacy of her work.

Plot Progression

1. From Model to Photographer — Lee leaves her former modeling life in New York and pursues photography in France. Meeting Roland leads to a move to London, where she works for Vogue during the Blitz.
2. A Frontline Assignment — Restrictions initially keep Lee away from combat, but she is later assigned as a war correspondent alongside David Scherman. In France, she photographs combat and the upheaval of liberation.
3. Witness to Atrocity — Lee and Scherman travel into Germany and document the aftermath at Buchenwald and Dachau. Scherman also photographs Lee in Hitler's Munich apartment shortly before Germany's surrender.
4. Silenced Images, Lasting Legacy — Back in Britain, Lee learns her camp photographs were blocked by censorship. Her later life with Roland and Antony is marked by the effects of trauma, while Antony's imagined interview and the attic a...