User reviews

I personally like biopics & this one was very helpful in giving me a glimpse of what's happening in Burma. Much has been said about the fight for liberty in this country as well as about the fierceness of Suu Kyi & watching this film made me more interested with how our counterparts in Burma are working towards their full liberation.

Suu Kyi's situation reminds me of our very own, Cory Aquino, who herself was an icon of democracy.

The movie gave me an insight of Suu Kyi's struggles & sacrifices just like Mrs. Aquino herself. One thing that the movie did is for viewers to appreciate the liberty we currently have & the closeness we will feel to Suu Kyi.

Great acting chops for Michelle Yeoh & David Thewlis. I wonder why they were not even nominated for an Oscar. Magnificent cinematography too.

A highly recommended film.

The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, is played wonderfully by Michelle Yeoh. I knew little about this famous person as I suspect many also didn't. The movie provides you with historical information you should be happy to learn. This kind of movie is a departure from what we are accustomed to see from director Luc Besson, and it is a pleasant discovery. Yeoh delivers a beautiful performance and so does Davis Thewlis, who plays her husband.

The movie is a truly beautiful love story, one that touches on the human spirit as few movies do. It is inspirational, nothing less. You will be moved by the story. The movie depicts the life of a people under military dictatorship and how the whole nation rallies behind the person that was destined to lead it despite all odds. You are likely to be following Aung San Suu Kyi ongoing real life story from that point on, as she is still very much the people's leader today. I could not recommend this movie more strongly.

Making a commercial film about a struggle for human rights and democracy is a real struggle because most audiences want entertainment and not politics. So the producers have to find an 'angle'. In 1987, "A World Apart" told the story of the fight against apartheid in South Africa but through the prism of the strain that this put on ANC activist Ruth First's relationship with her young daughter. A similar approach is used here in this account of the life of Aung San Suu Kyi, the eponymous lady and leader of the National League for Democracy in the dictatorship that has ruled Burma for most of the period since post-war independence from Britain. So it is not politics as such which is to the fore here but Suu Kyi's relationship with her husband, Oxford academic Michael Aris, and most especially the regime's brutal refusal to allow Aris to see his wife one last time when he was dying of prostate cancer. It is a gut-wrenchingly sad tale.

Malaysian-born actress Michelle Yeoh - a Bond girl in "Tomorrow Never Dies" and pugilist star of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" - looks perfect in the leading role, giving a performance which, while often understated, is deeply moving. David Thewlis (various "Harry Potter" films and "The Boy With The Striped Pyjamas") is very effective as the long-suffering husband. The exotic locations and local faces in Thailand serve the movie well and original music by the French Eric Serra plus some Mozart enhance the emotional power of the work. It is perhaps no surprise that the script for what is in essence a love story comes from a female writer - the British Rebecca Frayn - but one might not expect the identity of the director for this Anglo-French film: Luc Besson, best known for such action movies as "Nikita", "Leon" and "The Fifth Element".

"The Lady" may be a bit one-dimensional and lack nuance, but it highlights a long struggle for human rights that is not sufficiently well-known and the timing of its release (I saw it in January 2012) is poignant. When filming started, Suu Kyi was still under house arrest, as she had been in total for some 15 years, but by the time the film was finished she had been released. At the end of the movie, the iron grip of the regime and the number of political prisoners are highlighted but, in the weeks around the film's release, the generals instituted a series of liberalisation measures including the freeing of most political prisoners. If all this augurs an era of genuine democracy in Burma, "The Lady" will be a wonderful testimony to the power of personal courage and sacrifice to effect political change.

Politically, the late eighties and nineties were the most hopeful period in recent history. Throughout the world, especially in Eastern Europe and Latin America but also in Africa and the Far East, dictatorial regimes were giving way to democracy. Activists such as Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel and Nelson Mandela were exchanging their prison cells for their countries' Presidential Palaces, and it seemed that Burma (I will not call it "Myanmar"), which had been governed by a repressive military junta since 1962, would be the next democratic success story. Opposition to the regime was led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the beautiful and charismatic daughter of a national hero who enjoyed the devoted support of most of her compatriots. It seemed inevitable that "people power" would sweep away the junta, just as it had swept away the Marcos regime in the Philippines and the Communist dictatorships of Eastern Europe.

And yet this did not happen; the Burmese regime succeeded in maintaining its iron grip on power. Perhaps the reason was that, unlike many other tyrannies, it lacked any recognisable ideology beyond an Orwellian vision of "a boot stamping on a human face, forever". Communism collapsed when it became clear that it could not perform its ostensible ideological function, the protection of the economic interests of the working man. This in turn provoked the collapse of right-wing dictatorships like Pinochet's in Chile or Suharto's in Indonesia, which had justified their existence by claiming to defend their countries against Communism. Apartheid collapsed when it became clear that the economic interests of black and white South Africans were so closely intertwined as to make nonsense of the idea of "separate development". Than Shwe's junta, lacking any ideology which could be discredited in this way, could resist the forces of change for as long as it could maintain the loyalty of its troops and its own will to power.

"The Lady" depicts the life of Suu Kyi, known as "the lady" to her followers. It is not a complete biography, as it shows little of her early life, apart from the assassination of her father Aung San when she was three years old. The main action begins in 1988, when she was in her mid-forties and returned to Burma to visit her ailing mother, having previously been living in England with her husband Michael Aris, an Oxford professor. Her visit coincided with an uprising against military rule, which was followed by a brief period of liberalisation. She was persuaded to lead the country's nascent pro-democracy movement, and her party, the National League for Democracy, won a convincing majority in the 1990 parliamentary election. The military, however, refused to recognise the result and reimposed martial law. Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest and all political campaigning was forbidden. The junta seemed quite unmoved by international condemnation; even the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Suu Kyi in 1993 could not persuade them to release her.

The film was directed by Luc Besson, who was perhaps not the ideal director, as he had previously best been known for making action movies such as "Nikita". He had made a previous biography of a national political heroine, "Joan of Arc", but even there the action scenes are the best thing about the film. It is perhaps therefore unsurprising that "The Lady" is rather slow and ponderous and shows signs of having been made by a director unused to this style of film-making. Visually, however, the film is often attractive, with effective contrasts between the green, tropical lushness of South-East Asia- these scenes were shot in Thailand rather than Burma itself- and the grey stone of Oxford, a city often seen in the snow.

To be fair to Besson, he appears to have been deeply committed to this film, and it is possible that without his commitment it might never have been made. He was fortunate in having a leading lady, Michelle Yeoh, who was just as committed as he was; indeed, it was she who persuaded him to take on the project. Yeoh here gets to show, as she did in "Memoirs of a Geisha", that she is more than just a Bond Girl, more than just a kung-fu action heroine. She has the advantage of bearing a striking resemblance to the woman she is portraying.

Yeoh described the film as "an incredible love story", and the element most emphasised in the film is the relationship between Suu Kyi and her husband, from whom she was separated for many years. She would have been free at any time to leave Burma and rejoin him and their two sons in England, but always refused to do so, knowing that if she ever left the country she would never be permitted to return. David Thewlis as Aris is perhaps even better than Yeoh, playing him as an unworldly academic and devoted family man who nevertheless selflessly insists that his wife remain in Burma, knowing that if she leaves the country this will be a great blow to the pro-democracy movement. His premature death from cancer, possibly brought on or exacerbated by the stress of his situation, is the film's most tragic moment.

Suu Kyi's house arrest has now been lifted and Burma is now ruled by a civilian government, although it remains to be seen whether it will evolve into a genuine democracy; the elections in 2010 were widely denounced as neither free nor fair, and the new government as a mere front for a continuing military dictatorship. The expulsion of Michelle Yeoh from the country last year would suggest that the authorities are still very touchy about criticism. The film, however, performs the valuable service of reminding the world of the problems of a country which was for too long one of the last bastions of tyranny. I certainly preferred it to "The Iron Lady", the other recent biopic of a major female political figure. 7/10

While it is certainly true that Aung San Suu Kyi has been, and indeed remains a great figurehead for Burma and their struggle for democracy, one wonders quite how, after watching this film, Besson managed to make it quite so long. This, in fact, is my main criticism. 'The Lady' is simply far too long, and, in addition to this, is on a downhill slope after the initial stunning 10 minutes or so of cinematography. This opening was exciting, moving, and perfect in almost every way, but from that point on, the film just deteriorated.

The use of music was excessive, and I found it intensely irritating when practically every shot of the military junta was accompanied by 'evil' music. This simply trivialised a matter which is still relevant today, and patronised the audience. Furthermore, the dialogue between the junta leaders was a bit clumsy, a bit stereotypical, and a little bit soft.

However, this was a film that had bits of brilliance. David Thewlis was masterful, and every bit of his heart and soul went into his performance. Michelle Yeoh was radiant, although she looked a little bit out of her depth every once in a while, when she let her character slip. It only happened a couple of times, but that is enough. Typically for Luc Besson, the shots were beautifully executed, and I particularly liked the splicing of footage into re-constructed events. All these things, however, did not come together well enough.

Perhaps the reason why this film doesn't hold together very well is that she has not finished yet. Aung San Suu Kyi's story is not over, and she has not yet succeeded in her aims. The film itself just did not have enough substance to work with, and in that respect, it can be of some credit to the director that he made an unrealistic project into a passable film.

Nobody should criticise the drama directing or entertainment value of a film like this which offers an intimate insight into the struggle of one human being to fulfil a humanitarian cause for her country, Mynanmar.

Quite by chance, I watched WE yesterday, another love story with a twist directed by Madonna. As for the Lady, both Michelle Yeogh and David Threwlis are excellent throughout in the two leading roles. the film is as much about their devotion to their each other as it is to the cause of Burma (or Mynanmar if you like).

What disappointed me was that there was no translation for whenever Burmese was spoken in the movie and so I had no idea what was being said. furthermore, the end credits were in French and I could not understand them either.

Considering the political nature of the movie and the profile of the woman in focus, I thought it was a surprisingly unpolitical film and the Burmese Generals came across as a bunch of puffs who had no idea to connect with the people they ruled and controlled.

I also agree that the ending was rushed after Mikeys death and more time could have been spent to balance the story to the present day but that is the directors prerogative and I am not criticising in any way.

I remember the Ghandi movie and as much as I liked this movie, sorry, the overall quality of this movie cannot be compared to Ghandi.

Terrific film, have a few hankies at the ready and be ready to grab a hand or two when things taken a sudden turn!

Ang Sang Suu Kyi is one of my most favorite political figures (I'm probably not alone on it), I hesitated whether I should go and see this movie, fearing it may not match my impression of Daw Ang Sang gathered from previous news footages and biography.

It was amazing to see Michelle Yeoh as Ang Sang Suu Kyi, the act was elegantly presented, the way how Michelle put her hand on the waist while walking gracefully, reminded me so much of the Lady, everything comes natural, nothing pretentious, it's a joy to see such a great act with simple body language, it even sent me a sort of spine-tingling joy when she walked on the stage to give her first public speech at Shwe Dagon People Forum.

I think Michelle did not disappoint the Lady and the people of Myanmar.

The storyline may be oversimplified but I would still rate this movie with 9, it's hard to present the whole struggle of Daw Ang Sang in a short time, but I guess most people who go and watch this movie should already have some background of what happened in real life.

I've seen the Lady in Hong Kong and found it one of the best movies of its kind.

Luc Besson takes a change of pace for this slow-moving biopic of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's most famous daughter and a woman whose life became symbolic of that country's struggle against a repressive military junta. For those who know nothing about Suu Kyi, the most significant part of her story involves her being placed under house arrest for many years, so adrenaline junkies should look elsewhere.

This story is mannered, simple and rich in atmosphere. It's not a political thriller with super-fast cutting and editing between characters; instead, it's an often poignant exploration of courage and decency in the face of oppression. There's a kind of slow-burning intensity beneath the surface nonetheless, something that keeps you watching and which makes for a compelling journey despite the lack of incident.

Michelle Yeoh was born to play the part of Suu Kyi, and she performs admirably in the role, capturing the woman's indomitable spirit through subtlety and carefully-crafted mannerisms. David Thewlis, as her long-suffering husband, is the human heart of the story and his tragic tale is full of emotion.

Although the violent acts of the Burmese soldiers form the backdrop of the tale, this is a film about people, about character and the choices we make in our lives. I particularly liked the way that the film refuses to preach or eulogise about Suu Kyi's character; she's certainly no saint, and watching her choose her country over her family is quietly devastating in its own way.

I have to say I didn't find any wrong notes in this film at all. Performances were excellent and the way the writer pulled out the key events was deft. Crucially, the writer doesn't spoon feed you with every emotion, every key thought or motivation. The audience has to think and imagine. How would it feel to lose your father at a young age? How would it feel to build a life away from your own country and then return there to find it in turmoil? How would you respond to being asked to lead a protest to save your country, knowing the personal sacrifice that will involve? Superb drama about a real and tragic story that continues to play out.

Interesting movie but keep in mind it was filmed in 2011, before Rohigha genocide. Great personality for her people, dictator for the Muslim minority

Based on the story by Rebecca Frayn, who had spent three years interviewing close confidantes of Aung San Suu Kyi, the narrative provides the points of view of both Suu Kyi herself, played by Michelle Yeoh, and her husband Michael Aris (David Thewlis), who because of her political awakening and development, caused plenty of emotionally painful, physical separation and time spent apart through her standing up for and accepting her countrymen's push for democratic leadership, after years of military rule from generalissimos Ne Win to Tan Shwe (Agga Poechit). It also presents different perspectives both within and outside of Burma as crises began to unfold with Suu Kyi a prisoner of her own home and country, and Michael being outside of it trying his best to sound out her, and Burma's plight. Then there's the sacrifice of family for country, where a breakup of the family unit was something inevitable in order to continue being there for her countrymen and not abandoning them at times of need.

In a story spanning decades that moves forward and back in time, Besson has a solid hand in knowing the highlights of the many years history to translate for the big screen, going back to the 40s when Suu Kyi's father Aung San, a war and independence hero, got assassinated, right down to her emergence in politics as a force to be reckoned with, and her subsequent house arrest, right up to the recent 2007 rallies and demonstrations by monks that eventually led to a deadly crackdown. The Lady presents Besson an opportunity to move away from his relatively family friendly fare of late with the Arthur and the Invisibles series, and also to perform an about turn from the usual action flicks, for something a lot more serious in gravitas, and needless to say the importance of getting the film right in most, if not all counts, as much as a filmmaker can with the resources at his disposal.

As such, some may feel that the film is relatively lightweight in its coverage of politics, although I must add that being confined to one's home in the prominent years of one's political life doesn't make for a smooth translation on screen, as there's only so much that one can do within the fantastic recreation of Suu Kyi's lakeside home. Instead a softer, more heartfelt approach through a love story opened up Suu Kyi as a character who's a lot more down to earth, than just a democracy icon. Besson's knack for handling strong female characters couldn't be more pronounced here, with plenty of opportunities in scenes to show she does not cower even with gun barrels pointed at her face, nor accept the constant nonsense dished out by the military might.

Despite the lack of action, you can feel Luc Besson's release of glee in channeling that frustration to mocking the military top brass, from their deliberate big moments and silly gestures bordering on the comical, to their illogical superstitions, with characterization being very much in line with our esteemed ex Minister Mentor's comments in WikiLeaks. Almost all generalissimos and their underlings are ridiculously decorated, and make extremely naive calls as if nobody can see through their simple rouse. It's a story of grace versus guns, which in any other typical Besson movie it's no surprise if it comes with preference for the latter, except for The Lady which trades in for the softer power approach.

Michelle Yeoh lost quite a lot of weight in order to physically resemble the lead role, and her time spent on researching Suu Kyi was time well spent as she nailed her mimicry down to a pat. Even her lines spoken in Burmese were flawless. Not that I can understand the language, but the large percentage of Burmese audience that I've watched this with were nodding and acknowledging her diction and fluency, as well as her performance of the real life heroine of their lives. In short, they were in awe by her elegance and poise in making Suu Kyi come alive on screen. David Thewlis also shone in his role as the husband standing firmly behind her decision and to make sacrifices knowingly for the greater good, for the benefit of even more people in a country that needs his wife more than he needs her. Together they made their struggle felt, and will seek to move even the most stoic of hearts. And the actors who played the Burmese generals, you guys surely hammed it up effortlessly.

This superb film may be travelling the festival and commercial theatrical circuits now, and will probably pick up a slew of film awards along the way. But what's more important and I'm sure it'll achieve, is to bring the attention of the world towards Suu Kyi's, and Burma's continued plight that seemed to be with no end in sight. You may not be very familiar with what may have transpired over the decades of strife in Burma, but The Lady brings you up to speed with a succinctly packed historical lesson centered around one of the world's enduring icons of freedom and democracy. A definite recommendation for this wonderful effort.

i was waiting for someone to make a movie about this very remarkable lady and finally it came through... the staring hero was an obvious though very good choice however there are somethings that the movie failed to achieve i believe:

-we did not fall in love with the country in dispute (Burma)the movie hardly came up with any historical events/facts that would bring the audience to understand the place

-beside the"lady" and her family there are hardly any other character that you could remember after the movie, we realize this is a biography but the struggle was not her's alone

-the way that (Burma) was captured on Camera was just to emphasis the stereo type about Asians

-the movie would have a spectacular ending if they waited for sometime as the hero of our story dose indeed forms a government after the military hands over the power to her

-comparing the movie to other remarkable ladies biography such as (the Iron Lady) and (the Queen) we find that this one is the least of the others in terms of direction and production

Muhannad Kalaji

Knowing what we know now about the Rohingya genocide, this film seems so naive. I guess the production team involved did not really know that Suu Kyi was just in it to grab power, presumably because she felt entitled as her father ruled the country earlier. It really spoiled the film for me. How stupid it looks now to see the glorification of a person lacking in basic humanity. You may watch it but with the knowledge that its basically a propaganda piece about a person who was cunning enough to dress up her lust for power as a noble cause. I'd rather watch any other movie than spend time watching propaganda.

This is a biopic from Luc Besson about Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi (Michelle Yeoh). Michael Aris (David Thewlis) is her British husband.

It's rather long at over 2 hours. I don't think it's necessary. There are many scenes that are too long and too slow. Don't get me wrong. She's an important person, and this is an important story. But it's not done in a dramatic fashion. And truth be told, house arrest is not the most dramatic situation. Her husband holds the key to this movie. Their love story is the basis of any drama in this movie. However they are separated for most of this movie. It is a horrible way to shoot a love story. Great story. Important history. No drama.

I lived in Burma while she was under house arrest. The film documents the country and her popularity very well for the time period 1988-2010. Its sad knowing the history afterwards. They should make a sequel.

This is one of the best films I have seen in a long time. It was highly entertaining, emotionally evoking and educational. I had known very little on the situation in Bhurma, and felt the summaries I read prior to visiting the cinema to see this film did not do justice to this cinematic gem. I came away from the screening determined to learn more and do what small part I could to right the wrongs portrayed in The Lady. The setting was wonderful, and I felt the cast played their parts marvellously. Many write ups of the film have criticised the length, however I do not think the story could have developed to give one a reasonable overview of the situation with a shorter script. It would be unnecessary to follow each of the characters' developments in the film, particularly given the length of time in question.

I would recommend this film to anyone as essential viewing, whether or not you have an interest in political affairs or not. The politics in The Lady is so simply set out and self- explanatory that anyone would understand the issues at hand.

On the face of it, THE LADY has a lot going for it. Filmed mostly in Thailand, it tells the story of Aung San Suu Kyi's (Michelle Yeoh's) progress from happily married homemaker in Oxford, England, to the leader of the democracy movement in Burma (Myanmar) imprisoned by the military for fifteen years. The transition is not an easy one: the authorities try to make Suu's life as difficult as possible, by denying her freedom of movement and preventing her husband Michael (David Thewlis) from visiting her in Burman, even when he is dying with prostate cancer. Yeoh delivers a first-rate performance; her face remains expressionless in public, especially while confronting the generals and their lackeys who try every single strategy they can think of to break her down. Luc Besson's direction is both taut yet hard- edged; his handling of the crowd-scenes is especially good, particularly in the sequence where Suu addresses a band of pro-democracy demonstrators, but does not see the authorities taking off some of the demonstrators to prison at the back of the gathering. The scene where Suu wins the election, and her supporters gather at the gates of her house, only to be repelled by gun-toting soldiers, is also memorable. Yet the film as a whole is let down by Rebecca Frayn's clunky script, which is notable for its clichéd scenes - as, for example, when younger son Kim Aris (Jonathan Raggett) crawls into his father's arms at their Oxford home and says "I miss mum." Frayn's characterization of Suu is perfunctory: we get little sense of why she became such a celebrated figure resisting the military dictatorship, or what her politics actually were. The script is far more concerned with revealing her enduring love for her husband. As a result the film tends to focus on the minutiae of their domestic life rather than explaining the niceties of Burmese politics. Maybe that was not Besson's intention, but it might have made for a more intriguing film.

"The Lady" is a very unusual movie if you take a look at Michelle Yeoh's list of movies, especially compared to the movies she stars in at the Asian cinema.

With that being said, don't get me wrong. I am not saying that it is a bad thing. Just bear in mind that you will not be in for the usual fast-paced action that she is known for in her movies. This movie portrays a more mature and serious side of Michelle Yeoh's acting talent, and she nails it to perfection, proving that she is so much more than just an action heroine.

The story in "The Lady" is based on the real events and life of Aung San Suu Kyi, for better or worse. And it is a story that appeals mostly to a mature audience who have an interest in world affairs and politics. I am not overly fond of such and found the story to be somewhat slow paced and dragging on at times. However, it is still a good story and a story that definitely was worth being told to a broad audience.

Michelle Yeoh was really well cast for this role, and I was particularly impressed with how she was able to shed her action skin and branch out into a more mature field of acting.

"The Lady" is a movie that sticks with you for some time after you have watched it, and take the time to let it sink it, because it is really an emotional story.

The cinematography in the movie was quite good, and at times it sort of felt like you were right there in the midst of all the turmoil and chaos.

I am rating "The Lady" a score of seven stars out of ten.

With such a fascinating subject matter this movie would have been an interesting watch no matter who directed it but I think Luc Besson did a good job showing he is more than just an action thriller director. Of course there are some violent parts showing the brutality of the Military that are in your face and exciting as expected. He handled the private woman and her personal sacrifice and bravery in a tasteful manner.

Michelle Yeoh does a brilliant job. It's a really good fit for her. She is good in both the intimate moments dealing with her family and in her dignified public persona. She deserves an acting nomination for her work. David Thewlis is well cast as a disheveled looking professor type.

The subtitles are a major part of the movie with lots of dialog in Burmese. But it's still easy to follow the plot which doesn't jump around too much and is well laid out. It deserves a place among the better political true life movies. While not as dramatic or gut wrenching as "Cry Freedom" or "the Killing Fields", it still delivers a powerful message. Those interested can also watch "Beyond Rangoon" with Patricia Arquette which is a more adventure style portrayal of the events in Burma.

Wish the movie could have shown more recent events including her recent release. Reminds us there is still a long way to go in Burma.

Touching and a must watch.

I admire Suu, and this is a heavy topic.But objectively this is not a good movie to express all the emotions and situation