If ever a director seemed out of his element, it's Luc Besson (Leon, The Fifth Element) in this botoxed biopic about Burmese activist, Aung San Suu Kyi. Approached by leading lady Michelle Yeoh (whose resemblance is uncanny), The Lady is an odd match for a frenetic director more comfortable killing his subjects than standing them on a plinth of glowing reverence.

Yet if ever there was a leader worthy of such acclaim it is Aung whose father was credited with leading Burma to independence. It cost him his life. She fled to Britain, married an academic (David Thewlis) and had two children. The death of her mother brought Aung back to Burma and to international attention when she stood up to a brutal, military crackdown. It cost Aung her freedom.

There is considerable grist in a story of considerable worth, not the least of which is a woman forced to choose between country and family. Her sons accepted a Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf while she remained under house arrest. Yet Besson and screenwriter Rebecca Frayn fail to inject much passion into a story overloaded with emotion, opting to sanctify this most human woman instead. There is no doubting her tremendous courage and strength, but in choosing to reflect her domestic life Aung remains impossibly placid despite imprisonment, absent children and the failing health of a devoted husband. There's one scene where Besson nails it, otherwise the conventional treatment is fawning at best, a feeling exacerbated by Eric Serra's relentless score.

There's no doubting his sincerity, nor that the life of Aung San Suu Kyi is one of the most stirring accounts of courage and nobility in modern history. The Lady is worth seeing if only to learn more about this incredible woman (with a special mention for elegant cinematography). But that her significant achievements should be rendered down to the essence of grace and humility with little trace of the complex human she is, does no one any favours. Unable to shake a kind of dramatic inertia, shocking injustices are more academic than visceral and stifled further by Yeoh's regal poise. Despite the most sincere efforts of all concerned, it remains disappointing that Besson can't let you revel in this overwhelming story as much as you want to (and you really want to).

// COLIN FRASER
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